Fund Overview
The Vanguard Consumer Discretionary Index Fund ETF Shares, identified by the ticker VCR, operates within the Consumer Cyclical category under the management of the Vanguard fund family. This specific investment vehicle currently oversees total assets under management of $6.68 billion, a scale that indicates significant market participation and liquidity suitable for institutional or large-scale retail portfolios. While the exact number of individual holdings is not disclosed in available data, the fund structure generally implies broad exposure to the consumer discretionary sector through an index-based approach. The fund charges an expense ratio of 0.1%, which positions it as a low-cost option relative to many actively managed peers or funds with higher fee structures, thereby reducing the drag on investor returns over time.
Performance Analysis
The fund currently distributes an annual yield of 0.8%, providing a modest income stream that may appeal to investors seeking some dividend exposure alongside capital appreciation within a cyclical sector. Year-to-date performance shows a return of -2.4%, reflecting the fund's sensitivity to recent macroeconomic conditions or sector-specific headwinds affecting consumer spending habits. Over a longer horizon, the fund has demonstrated varying levels of consistency, with a three-year average return of 14.1% contrasted against a five-year average return of 4.4%. The divergence between these two periods suggests that recent market dynamics have significantly outpaced or underperformed the broader historical average, highlighting the volatility inherent in consumer discretionary assets over different timeframes. The substantial difference between the three-year and five-year averages indicates that the fund experienced a period of accelerated growth in the most recent years compared to the prior five-year window. Additionally, the minimal 0.1% expense ratio ensures that the costs deducted from assets are negligible, allowing the majority of the fund's gross performance to flow directly into net returns for the shareholders without significant erosion from management fees.
Price & Risk Profile
The security has traded within a 52-week range bounded by a high of $414.28 and a low of $285.13, illustrating the potential price swings an investor might encounter when holding this asset. Based on the provided 52-week high and low, the current trading price sits somewhere within this established band, reflecting the dynamic nature of market valuation for consumer discretionary stocks. Specific volatility metrics such as the beta value are not currently available for this fund, which limits the ability to quantify its systematic risk relative to the broader market using standard deviation ratios. Without a disclosed beta figure, the overall risk profile must be inferred primarily from the wide 52-week price range, which spans over $129 in absolute terms, suggesting a high degree of price fluctuation characteristic of cyclical industries. This wide trading range implies that the fund's value can change significantly over short periods, requiring investors to be prepared for substantial price movements driven by consumer confidence and discretionary spending trends.