497K 1 sp24022015.htm EXPLORER RETAIL sp24022015.htm - Generated by SEC Publisher for SEC Filing

Vanguard ExplorerFund
 
Summary Prospectus
 
 
February 24, 2015
 
 
Investor Shares & Admiral™ Shares
 
Vanguard Explorer Fund Investor Shares (VEXPX)
Vanguard Explorer Fund Admiral Shares (VEXRX)
 
 
 
 
The Fund’s statutory Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated
February 24, 2015, as may be amended or supplemented, are incorporated into
and made part of this Summary Prospectus by reference.
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus, which
contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find
the Fund’s Prospectus and other information about the Fund online at
www.vanguard.com/prospectus. You can also obtain this information at no
cost by calling 800-662-7447 or by sending an e-mail request to
online@vanguard.com.
 
 
 
 
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or
passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 


 

Investment Objective

The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold Investor Shares or Admiral Shares of the Fund. “Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses” are expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund through its ownership of shares in other investment companies, such as business development companies. Business development company expenses are similar to the expenses paid by any operating company held by the Fund. They are not direct costs paid by Fund shareholders and are not used to calculate the Fund’s net asset value. They have no impact on the costs associated with Fund operations.

  Shareholder Fees      
  (Fees paid directly from your investment)      
      Investor Shares Admiral Shares
  Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases   None None
  Purchase Fee   None None
  Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends   None None
  Redemption Fee   None None
  Account Service Fee (for certain fund account balances below   $20/year $20/year
$ 10,000)    

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

  Investor Shares   Admiral Shares  
Management Fees 0.49 % 0.33 %
12b-1 Distribution Fee None   None  
Other Expenses 0.03 % 0.02 %
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses 0.01 % 0.01 %
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses1 0.53 % 0.36 %

 

1 The expense information shown in the table has been restated to reflect estimated amounts for the current fiscal year. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the Fund's financial statements, which provide a clearer picture of a fund's actual operating costs.

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Examples

The following examples are intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund’s Investor Shares or Admiral Shares with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. They illustrate the hypothetical expenses that you would incur over various periods if you invested $10,000 in the Fund’s shares. These examples assume that the Shares provide a return of 5% a year and that total annual fund operating expenses remain as stated in the preceding table. The results apply whether or not you redeem your investment at the end of the given period. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

  1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Investor Shares $54 $170 $296 $665
Admiral Shares $37 $116 $202 $456

 

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in more taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the previous expense examples, reduce the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 66% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund invests mainly in the stocks of small 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.

Principal Risks

An investment in the Fund could lose money over short or even long periods. You should expect the Fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range, like the fluctuations of the overall stock market. The Fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the Fund’s performance:

Stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

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Investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from small-capitalization growth stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Historically, small-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently. Small companies tend to have greater stock volatility because, among other things, these companies are more sensitive to changing economic conditions.

Manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause the Fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective. In addition, significant investment in the information technology sector subjects the Fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of this sector.

An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Annual Total Returns

The following bar chart and table are intended to help you understand the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the performance of the Fund‘s Investor Shares has varied from one calendar year to another over the periods shown. The table shows how the average annual total returns of the share classes presented compare with those of a relevant market index, which has investment characteristics similar to those of the Fund. Keep in mind that the Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) does not indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available on our website at vanguard.com/performance or by calling Vanguard toll-free at 800-662-7447.

Annual Total Returns — Vanguard Explorer Fund Investor Shares


During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a calendar quarter was 19.79% (quarter ended June 30, 2009), and the lowest return for a quarter was –26.16% (quarter ended December 31, 2008).

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Average Annual Total Returns for Periods Ended December 31, 2014          
  1 Year 5 Years   10 Years  
Vanguard Explorer Fund Investor Shares            
Return Before Taxes 3.91 % 16.59 % 8.22 %
Return After Taxes on Distributions 0.30   15.04   6.95  
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 4.57   13.27   6.51  
Vanguard Explorer Fund Admiral Shares            
Return Before Taxes 4.08 % 16.78 % 8.40 %
Russell 2500 Growth Index            
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes) 7.05 % 17.27 % 9.37 %

 

Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are shown only for the Investor Shares and may differ for each share class. After-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds fund shares in a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan. Also, figures captioned Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares may be higher than other figures for the same period if a capital loss occurs upon redemption and results in an assumed tax deduction for the shareholder.

Investment Advisors

Arrowpoint Asset Management, LLC (Arrowpoint Partners) Century Capital Management, LLC (Century Capital) Chartwell Investment Partners, Inc. (Chartwell) Granahan Investment Management, Inc. (Granahan) Kalmar Investment Advisers (Kalmar) Stephens Investment Management Group, LLC (SIMG) Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management) The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)

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Portfolio Managers

Chad Meade, Partner and Portfolio Manager of Arrowpoint Partners. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014.

Brian Schaub, CFA, Partner and Portfolio Manager of Arrowpoint Partners. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014.

Alexander L. Thorndike, Managing Partner at Century Capital. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2008.

John A. Heffern, Managing Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager at Chartwell. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2006.

Gary C. Hatton, CFA, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Granahan. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 1998.

Jane M. White, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Granahan. She has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2000.

Jennifer M. Pawloski, Vice President of Granahan. She has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014.

John V. Schneider, CFA, Vice President of Granahan. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014.

Ford B. Draper, Jr., President, Chief Investment Officer, and Founder of Kalmar. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2005 (co-managed since 2014).

Dana F. Walker, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Kalmar. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2014.

Ryan E. Crane, CFA, Chief Investment Officer of SIMG. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2013.

Kenneth L. Abrams, Senior Managing Director and Equity Portfolio Manager at Wellington Management. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 1994.

Daniel J. Fitzpatrick, CFA, Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst at Wellington Management. He has served as an associate portfolio manager for a portion of the Fund since 2014.

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James D. Troyer, CFA, Principal of Vanguard. He has managed a portion of the Fund since 2006 (co-managed since 2012).

James P. Stetler, Principal of Vanguard. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2012.

Michael R. Roach, CFA, Portfolio Manager at Vanguard. He has co-managed a portion of the Fund since 2012.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

You may purchase or redeem shares online through our website (vanguard.com), by mail (The Vanguard Group, P.O. Box 1110, Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110), or by telephone (800-662-2739). The minimum investment amount required to open and maintain a Fund account for Investor Shares or Admiral Shares is $3,000 or $50,000, respectively. The minimum investment amount required to add to an existing Fund account is generally $1. Institutional, financial intermediary, and Vanguard retail managed clients should contact Vanguard for information on special eligibility rules that may apply to them regarding Admiral Shares.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions may be taxable as ordinary income or capital gain. If you are investing through a tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, special tax rules apply.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

The Fund and its investment advisors do not pay financial intermediaries for sales of Fund shares.


 

Vanguard Explorer Fund Investor Shares—Fund Number 24 Vanguard Explorer Fund Admiral Shares—Fund Number 5024

CFA® is a registered trademark owned by CFA Institute.

© 2015 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor.

SP 24 022015