Is Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral (VWIAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

There are plenty of choices in the Allocation Balanced category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral (VWIAX). VWIAX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.ObjectiveVWIAX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.History of Fund/ManagerVanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWIAX. The Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral made its debut in May of 2001 and VWIAX has managed to accumulate roughly $40.76 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Loren Moran, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2017.PerformanceObviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.19%, 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 2.32%, 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. VWIAX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.93% compared to the category average of 12.2%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 9.5% compared to the category average of 12.82%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.Risk FactorsInvestors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VWIAX has a 5-year beta of 0.47, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. 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. VWIAX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -4.06, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.ExpensesAs 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, VWIAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.16% compared to the category average of 0.82%. From a cost perspective, VWIAX is actually cheaper than its peers.While the minimum initial investment for the product is $50,000, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.Bottom LineOverall, Vanguard Wellesley Income Admiral ( VWIAX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Allocation Balanced, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. 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