Advertisement
U.S. markets closed
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • Dow 30

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • Nasdaq

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • Russell 2000

    2,124.55
    +10.20 (+0.48%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • Gold

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • Silver

    25.10
    +0.18 (+0.74%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0791
    -0.0002 (-0.02%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2615
    -0.0007 (-0.05%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    151.3490
    -0.0230 (-0.02%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    70,163.08
    -439.18 (-0.62%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     

Is VWIUX 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 Tax-Exempt Admiral (VWIUX). VWIUX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

VWIUX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral debuted in February of 2001. Since then, VWIUX has accumulated assets of about $66.91 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, James D'Arcy, has been in charge of the fund since June of 2013.

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 0.62%, 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 -1.51%, which places it in the top 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, VWIUX's standard deviation comes in at 5.13%, compared to the category average of 11.05%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 4.28% compared to the category average of 9.57%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

VWIUX carries a beta of 0.68, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 0.13, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, VWIUX has 62.49% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 34.68% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and focuses on high quality securities.

Expenses

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, VWIUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.09% compared to the category average of 0.79%. From a cost perspective, VWIUX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.

Bottom Line

Overall, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral ( VWIUX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Admiral ( VWIUX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about VWIUX? 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.


Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Get Your Free (VWIUX): Fund Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research

Advertisement