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If you have been looking for Investment Grade Bond - Short funds, it would not be wise to start your search with Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade Fund Investor (VFSTX). VFSTX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VFSTX is classified in the Investment Grade Bond - Short segment by Zacks, an area full of investment potential. By investing in bonds that mature in less than two years, Investment Grade Bond - Short funds are focused on the short end of the curve. Fixed income instruments at this maturity level tend to have low duration risk, but they also pay out small yields compared to their longer-dated peers. Furthermore, these funds'focus on investment grade make them safer, but yields will be lower than in the junk bond category.
History of Fund/Manager
VFSTX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade Fund Investor made its debut in October of 1982 and VFSTX has managed to accumulate roughly $6.14 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Daniel Shaykevich who has been in charge of the fund since April of 2018.
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 1.81%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 2.17%, 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. VFSTX's standard deviation over the past three years is 3.7% compared to the category average of 10.56%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 3.57% compared to the category average of 11.31%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
VFSTX carries a beta of 0.46, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 0.78, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.