Is Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral (VBTLX). The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VBTLX. The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral made its debut in November of 2001 and VBTLX has managed to accumulate roughly $99.68 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Joshua Barrickman, has been in charge of the fund since February 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 0.46%, 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 -2.13%, 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, VBTLX's standard deviation comes in at 4.91%, compared to the category average of 13.49%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 4.4% compared to the category average of 11.94%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.01, the fund is likely to be as volatile as the market average. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.04. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, VBTLX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the category average of 0.79%. So, VBTLX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

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

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Equity Report funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare VBTLX to its peers 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.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.