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There are plenty of choices in the High Yield - Bonds category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that may not be worth investigating is Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor (VWEHX). VWEHX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that VWEHX is a High Yield - Bonds option, which is an area loaded with different investment choices. High Yield - Bonds funds are often known as " junk " bonds since they are below investment grade. This means they are at an elevated risk of default, at least when compared to their investment grade peers. On the plus side, junk bonds generally pay out higher yields, all while posing similar interest rate risks as we see with their investment grade counterparts.
History of Fund/Manager
VWEHX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Investor debuted in December of 1978. Since then, VWEHX has accumulated assets of about $3.05 billion, according to the most recently available information. Michael Chang is the fund's current manager and has held that role since August of 2022.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VWEHX has a 5-year annualized total return of 3.32% and it sits 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 2.56%, 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. Over the past three years, VWEHX's standard deviation comes in at 8.2%, compared to the category average of 10.87%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 8.6% compared to the category average of 12.11%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.26, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VWEHX has a positive alpha of 3.5, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.