VEXPX — Vanguard Explorer Fund, Investor Shares
Data updated: 2026-09-28
VEXPX — Vanguard Explorer Fund, Investor Shares. 0.39% expense ratio · no sales load · since 1967. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.
VEXPX Fund Overview
VEXPX — Vanguard Explorer Fund, Investor Shares is a US mutual fund managed by Vanguard Explorer Fund, categorised as United States Mid Cap Growth Equity. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.
- Type: US mutual fund
- Manager: Vanguard Explorer Fund
- Category: United States Mid Cap Growth Equity
- Assets under management: $22.12B
- 1-year return: 22.9%
- Ticker: VEXPX
- SEC CIK: 0000034066
- SEC series ID: S000002578
- Share class ID: C000007081
VEXPX Investment Objective and Strategy
Vanguard Explorer Fund describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by Vanguard Explorer Fund.
Investment objective
The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.
Principal investment strategy
The Fund invests mainly in the stocks of small and mid-size companies. These companies tend to be unseasoned but are considered by the Fund’s advisors to have superior growth potential. Also, these companies often provide little or no dividend income. The Fund uses multiple investment advisors. Each advisor independently selects and maintains a portfolio of stocks for the Fund.
VEXPX Holdings
Top 10 holdings of Vanguard Explorer Fund by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| Vanguard Cmt Funds-Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund | 1.30% |
| Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap ETF | 1.05% |
| MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc | 0.94% |
| Guidewire Software Inc | 0.90% |
| Prc Newco Inc | 0.84% |
| Lattice Semiconductor Corp | 0.82% |
| BWX Technologies Inc | 0.73% |
| Vanguard Cmt Funds-Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund | 0.70% |
| Medpace Holdings Inc | 0.70% |
| RBC Bearings Inc | 0.70% |
VEXPX Portfolio Allocation
Asset-class allocation of Vanguard Explorer Fund by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Asset class | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Equity | 98.2% |
| Cash & Equivalents | 2.5% |
VEXPX Performance
Total returns for VEXPX (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.
| Period | Total return |
|---|---|
| YTD | 14.32% |
| 1 year | 22.91% |
| 3 years (annualised) | 11.80% |
| 5 years (annualised) | 4.84% |
VEXPX Risk Information
Risk metrics for VEXPX, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.
- 1-year volatility (annualised): 14.94%
VEXPX Costs and Fees
VEXPX costs about $39 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.
- Net expense ratio: 0.39%
- Gross expense ratio: 0.39%
- Portfolio turnover: 51%
- Brokerage commissions: 4.83 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)
VEXPX Cashflows
Over the 12 months to 2026-07, Vanguard Explorer Fund had net outflows of $581.79M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.
| Month | Net flow |
|---|---|
| 2026-07 | −$42.37M |
| 2026-06 | −$121.69M |
| 2026-05 | −$154.78M |
| 2026-04 | −$171.34M |
| 2026-03 | −$116.59M |
| 2026-02 | −$156.56M |
VEXPX Debt Constituents
No individual debt constituents are reported in Vanguard Explorer Fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
VEXPX Prospectus and SEC Filings
Official Vanguard Explorer Fund filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2026-02-27
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2025-02-28
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2024-02-27
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-09-28
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-06-26
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-03-31
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2026-01-12
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2025-01-13
Related Funds
Other United States Mid Cap Growth Equity funds tracked on ABC INVEST:
Data Sources
ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.