Is Vanguard International Value Fund (VTRIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
If you’ve been stuck searching for Non US – Equity funds, you might want to consider passing on by Vanguard International Value Fund (VTRIX) as a possibility. VTRIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
VTRIX 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.
VTRIX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard International Value Fund made its debut in May of 1983, and since then, VTRIX has accumulated about $11.53 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund’s current manager is a team of investment professionals.
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 8.73%, 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 13.46%, which places it in the bottom 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. Compared to the category average of 13.97%, the standard deviation of VTRIX over the past three years is 12.91%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund’s standard deviation is 14.99% compared to the category average of 16.39%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
The fund has a 5-year beta of 0.74, so investors should note that it is hypothetically less 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. VTRIX’s 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -2.66, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, VTRIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.35% compared to the category average of 0.92%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VTRIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, 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.
Overall, even with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard International Value Fund ( VTRIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and therefore looks a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).