VANGUARD EXPLORER FUND
Actively managed U.S. stock fund
As of its 2026 Q2 report, VANGUARD EXPLORER FUND held 718 positions with $21.77B in net assets. Its ten largest holdings made up 11.8% of the fund. The VEXPX share class costs 0.39% a year. Over the 12 months to May 2026, VEXPX returned 30.6%, with dividends reinvested. In 2026 Q3 it added 212 new positions and exited 97.
Vanguard Explorer Fund (the Fund) seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.
The fund employs multiple independent advisors who actively select stocks of small and mid-size companies expected to deliver superior growth, typically offering little or no dividend income. Because each advisor maintains a separate portfolio, the fund's overall holdings and performance will reflect the distinct choices and timing of multiple managers rather than a single unified strategy.
What you own
| Company | Weight | Value | Shares | Reported price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Vanguard Cmt Funds-Vanguard Market Liquidity Fund | 2.27% | $494.22M | — | — |
1.48% | $321.24M | 1.1M | $283.36 | |
1.47% | $320.54M | 1.8M | $174.01 | |
1.19% | $258.85M | 140.7K | $1,840.25 | |
FNFabrinet | 0.96% | $210.11M | 307.4K | $683.47 |
0.94% | $204.49M | 726.1K | $281.61 | |
0.91% | $198.57M | 9.2M | $21.62 | |
0.89% | $192.70M | 1.4M | $138.39 | |
VNOMViper Energy Inc | 0.85% | $185.39M | 3.8M | $49.38 |
SNDKSandisk Corp | 0.85% | $184.36M | 168.1K | $1,096.51 |
Reported price is the fund's own reported value divided by its own reported shares at 2026-04-30 — not a live quote, and not what the fund paid.
The 200 largest of 718 holdings, with the share counts as filed, open with a free account.
What the fund is made of
Percentages are of fund net assets. Rounding, liabilities and short positions can make totals differ from 100%.
| Stocks | 97.76% |
| Cash & short-term | 2.77% |
| Derivatives | 0.03% |
Look-through blends 1 underlying fund; 0.0% of NAV was not looked through and stays direct-classified.
By sector
- Industrials
- 20.6%
- Information Technology
- 20.3%
- Health Care
- 19.1%
- Financials
- 9.8%
- 9 other sectors
- 30.1%
- Industrials
- 20.6%
- Information Technology
- 20.3%
- Health Care
- 19.1%
- Financials
- 9.8%
- Consumer Discretionary
- 9.6%
- Other
- 5.0%
- Energy
- 4.2%
- Real Estate
- 2.3%
- Consumer Staples
- 2.2%
- Materials
- 2.0%
- Cash
- 2.0%
- Communication Services
- 1.7%
- Utilities
- 1.0%
How it has done
VEXPX share class · total returns with dividends reinvested
Volatility over the last 12 months: 13.04%. Past returns are a record, not a forecast.
Jun 2026 and Jul 2026 have been filed since the trailing figures were struck, so they are not in the table above or the curve — every figure here shares one cut-off, which is what makes them comparable with other funds.
The 2 share classes hold the same portfolio
| Share class | Expense ratio | 1 year | 3 years | 5 years | Worst fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.39% | +30.64% | +56.96% | +32.23% | -17.09% | |
| 0.28% | +30.77% | +57.48% | +32.95% | -17.05% |
These classes hold the same portfolio, so the 0.72pp spread over 5 years is the cost difference between them — roughly 0.14pp a year — not a difference in what they own.
Fees & fund details
VANGUARD EXPLORER FUND is an actively managed U.S. equity fund. 44% of VEXPX’s stock holdings are in companies whose revenue grew in the top quartile of U.S. companies over the last five fiscal years (covering 91% of the fund’s equity).
- Asset class
- Equity
- Region
- United States
- Management
- Actively managed
- Fund type
- Open-end fund
- Expense ratio, by class
- 0.28% – 0.39%· VEXPX 0.39%
- Portfolio turnover
- 51.00% a year · as of 2026 Q1
Turnover is how much of the portfolio was replaced in a year.
Classified from what the fund holds, not from its name · 2026 Q2. The summary is a paraphrase of the prospectus; the objective is verbatim.
What changed this quarter
Positions that entered or left the fund since its previous filing. Positions that were only resized are not listed.
212 new· the largest 8
97 exited· the largest 8
Understand how this fund fits with the rest.
Explore shared holdings, compare funds and follow their businesses with your connected AI:
- “Where do my funds overlap — VEXPX, QQQ and the fund in my 401(k)?”
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- “For my target-date fund, what’s the real stock-and-bond mix once you look through it?”
