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Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor (VFICX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. VFICX holds 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
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VFICX. Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor debuted in November of 1993. Since then, VFICX has accumulated assets of about $1.50 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Daniel Shaykevich, 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 1.71%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.72%, 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. Over the past three years, VFICX's standard deviation comes in at 7.92%, compared to the category average of 13.47%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.72% compared to the category average of 11.65%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 1.11, meaning that it is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VFICX has a positive alpha of 0.95, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, VFICX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.20% compared to the category average of 0.75%. 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.
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, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor ( VFICX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VFICXin the Mutual Fund Bond 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.
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Is VFICX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Bond fund? Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor (VFICX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. VFICX holds 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
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VFICX. Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor debuted in November of 1993. Since then, VFICX has accumulated assets of about $1.50 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Daniel Shaykevich, 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 1.71%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of -0.72%, 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. Over the past three years, VFICX's standard deviation comes in at 7.92%, compared to the category average of 13.47%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.72% compared to the category average of 11.65%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 1.11, meaning that it is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VFICX has a positive alpha of 0.95, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, VFICX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.20% compared to the category average of 0.75%. 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.
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, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Investor ( VFICX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on VFICXin the Mutual Fund Bond 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.