Yahoo Finance Is VFICX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If you have been looking for Mutual Fund Bond funds, a place to start could be Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor (VFICX). VFICX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
VFICX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor made its debut in November of 1993, and since then, VFICX has accumulated about $1.39 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Daniel Shaykevich who has been in charge of the fund since April of 2018.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.98%, and is in the middle 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 -4.57%, 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. VFICX's standard deviation over the past three years is 7.54% compared to the category average of 11.13%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.9% compared to the category average of 11.88%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 1.1, this fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VFICX has a positive alpha of 1.22, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, VFICX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.20% compared to the category average of 0.75%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VFICX is actually cheaper than its peers.
While the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor ( VFICX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Want even more information about VFICX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.
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