The Vanguard Extended Market ETF (VXF) was launched on 12/27/2001, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.
The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $16.77 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.
Why Mid Cap Blend
Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.
Blend ETFs are aptly named, since they tend to hold a mix of growth and value stocks, as well as show characteristics of both kinds of equities.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.06%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.17%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 23.50% of the portfolio. Financials and Industrials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Slcmt1142 accounts for about 1.73% of total assets, followed by Square Inc. (SQ) and Blackstone Inc. (BX).
Performance and Risk
VXF seeks to match the performance of the S&P Completion Index before fees and expenses. The S&P Completion Index contains all of the U.S. common stocks regularly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq over-the-counter market, except those stocks included in the S&P 500 Index.
The ETF has lost about -4.04% so far this year and is up roughly 2.31% in the last one year (as of 01/13/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $169.13 and $199.99.
The ETF has a beta of 1.21 and standard deviation of 26.60% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 3594 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Vanguard Extended Market ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, VXF is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard MidCap ETF (VO) and the iShares Core S&P MidCap ETF (IJH) track a similar index. While Vanguard MidCap ETF has $55.23 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P MidCap ETF has $67.50 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.
Bottom-Line
Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Vanguard Extended Market ETF (VXF): ETF Research Reports
Blackstone Inc. (BX): Free Stock Analysis Report
Block Inc. (SQ): Free Stock Analysis Report
iShares Core S&P MidCap ETF (IJH): ETF Research Reports
Vanguard MidCap ETF (VO): ETF Research Reports
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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.