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Is Vanguard International Value Fund (VTRIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Non US - Equity fund seekers should consider taking a look at Vanguard International Value Fund (VTRIX). VTRIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks categorizes VTRIX as Non US - Equity, a segment stacked high with options. Non US - Equity mutual funds like to invest in companies outside of the United States, an important characteristic since global mutual funds are known to keep a good portion of their portfolio stateside. These kinds of funds can often extend across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VTRIX. The Vanguard International Value Fund made its debut in May of 1983 and VTRIX has managed to accumulate roughly $10.36 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

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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 2.86%, and is in the middle 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 7.84%, 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, VTRIX's standard deviation comes in at 11.49%, compared to the category average of 12.92%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 12.57% compared to the category average of 13.38%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. In VTRIX's case, the fund lost 55.91% in the most recent bear market and outperformed its peer group by 3%. These results could imply that the fund is a better choice than its peers during a sliding market environment.

Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.88, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -5.99, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VTRIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.38% compared to the category average of 1.25%. VTRIX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.

Bottom Line

Overall, Vanguard International Value Fund ( VTRIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard International Value Fund ( VTRIX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about VTRIX? 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.


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