Is Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Admiral (VIMAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

If you're looking for a Index fund category, then a possible option is Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Admiral (VIMAX). VIMAX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VIMAX. The Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Admiral made its debut in November of 2001 and VIMAX has managed to accumulate roughly $69.03 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Aaron Choi who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2023.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. VIMAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 8.77%, and it sits 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 14.44%, 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. Over the past three years, VIMAX's standard deviation comes in at 14.12%, compared to the category average of 11.79%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 16.53% compared to the category average of 13.72%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.02, so investors should note that it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. VIMAX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -4.84, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 83.08% in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $45.64 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

• Finance
• Technology
• Industrial Cyclical
• Retail Trade

Turnover is 16%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, VIMAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the category average of 0.92%. VIMAX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to 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

For additional information on the Index area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VIMAX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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