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Is Vanguard International Growth Admiral (VWILX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Non US - Equity fund? Vanguard International Growth Admiral (VWILX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. VWILX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VWILX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWILX. Vanguard International Growth Admiral made its debut in August of 2001, and since then, VWILX has accumulated about $39.00 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.27%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 15.1%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of VWILX over the past three years is 14.82% compared to the category average of 13.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.47% compared to the category average of 15.4%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.06, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. VWILX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -10.21, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VWILX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.24% compared to the category average of 0.93%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VWILX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $50,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard International Growth Admiral ( VWILX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VWILX in the Non US - Equity category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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Is Vanguard International Growth Admiral (VWILX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Non US - Equity fund? Vanguard International Growth Admiral (VWILX - Free Report) is a possible starting point. VWILX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VWILX is classified in the Non US - Equity area by Zacks, and this segment is full of potential. Non US - Equity funds focus their investments on companies outside of the United States, which is an important distinction since global mutual funds tend to keep a sizable portion of their portfolio based in the United States. Most of these funds will allocate across emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWILX. Vanguard International Growth Admiral made its debut in August of 2001, and since then, VWILX has accumulated about $39.00 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.27%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 15.1%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.
It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of VWILX over the past three years is 14.82% compared to the category average of 13.04%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.47% compared to the category average of 15.4%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.06, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. VWILX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -10.21, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VWILX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.24% compared to the category average of 0.93%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VWILX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $50,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard International Growth Admiral ( VWILX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat average choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VWILX in the Non US - Equity category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.