Yahoo Finance Is VNYTX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund could think about starting with Vanguard NY Long-Term Tax-Exempt Investor (VNYTX). VNYTX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VNYTX. Since Vanguard NY Long-Term Tax-Exempt Investor made its debut in April of 1986, VNYTX has garnered more than $432.98 million in assets. Adam Ferguson is the fund's current manager and has held that role since June of 2013.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 2%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 0.78%, 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. The standard deviation of VNYTX over the past three years is 7.73% compared to the category average of 11.65%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 6.64% compared to the category average of 11.02%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
This fund has a beta of 1.08, meaning that it is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VNYTX has a negative 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, VNYTX has 69.71% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 26.83% 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
As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VNYTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.17% compared to the category average of 0.78%. So, VNYTX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
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.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard NY Long-Term Tax-Exempt Investor ( VNYTX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard NY Long-Term Tax-Exempt Investor ( VNYTX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond 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 VNYTX to its peers as well for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.
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