Any investors who are searching for Mutual Fund Equity Report funds should take a look at Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Investor (VIMSX Quick QuoteVIMSX - Free Report) . VIMSX 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

VIMSX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Investor debuted in May of 1998. Since then, VIMSX has accumulated assets of about $513.20 million, according to the most recently available information. Donald Butler is the fund's current manager and has held that role since November of 2001.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 6.52%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 5.34%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame.

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 VIMSX over the past three years is 22.8% compared to the category average of 18.08%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.1% compared to the category average of 15.96%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.07, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. VIMSX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.75, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating 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.

Right now, 83.39% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $23.22 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Finance
2. Technology
3. Industrial Cyclical

Turnover is 12%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VIMSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.17% compared to the category average of 0.78%. So, VIMSX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

This could just be the start of your research on VIMSXin the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.