Fund Evaluator:

Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares Overview

Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares (VSMAX) is a passively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend fund. Vanguard launched the fund in 2000.

The investment seeks to track the performance of the CRSP U.S. Small Cap Index that measures the investment return of small-capitalization stocks. The fund advisor employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the CRSP U.S. Small Cap Index, a broadly diversified index of stocks of small U.S. companies. The advisor attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index.

About Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares (VSMAX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.35 years: Aaron Choi (2025), Kenny Narzikul (2023). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: DJ US Total Stock Market TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and CRSP US Small Cap TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares has 1317 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 5.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares has 1.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 96.4%. There is 1.9% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares has 1.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $64 billion in total assets, which is above the $694 million average for the Small Blend category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

VSMAX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares has an expense ratio of 0.05%, which is 95% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares has a portfolio turnover rate of 17%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 65% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares returned 3.5%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Small Blend category had an average return of 5.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares has a trailing yield of 1.18%, which is above the 0.41% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Vanguard Small Cap Index Admiral Shares Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 18.2%, 3.5 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 29.5% over the past year (grade of D), 16.7% over the past three years (grade of C) and 7.7% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 11.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

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