Yahoo Finance Is VTABX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Have you been searching for an International Bond - Developed fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Total International Bond Index Admiral (VTABX). The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
Objective
Zacks categorizes VTABX as International Bond - Developed, a segment that is packed with options. Focusing on fixed income securities outside from developed nations besides the U.S. International Bond - Developed funds invest in assets from countries like Japan, Germany, the UK, France, and Australia. These holdings dominate the top holdings, and funds in this category offer geographic diversification; however, they can also introduce currency risk.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VTABX. Vanguard Total International Bond Index Admiral made its debut in May of 2013, and since then, VTABX has accumulated about $23.86 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Joshua Barrickman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since May of 2013.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 0.27%, and is 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 -1.75%, which places it in the middle 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. The standard deviation of VTABX over the past three years is 6% compared to the category average of 11.53%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 5.27% compared to the category average of 12.07%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
VTABX carries a beta of 0.75, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -0.5, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, VTABX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.83%. From a cost perspective, VTABX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $3,000 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
This could just be the start of your research on VTABXin the International Bond - Developed 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. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.
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