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Is Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF (PBJ) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF (PBJ - Free Report) was launched on 06/23/2005, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $282.52 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Consumer Staples ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Dynamic Food & Beverage Intellidex Index.

The Dynamic Food & Beverage Intellidex Index is comprised of stocks of 30 U.S. food and beverage companies.These are companies that are principally engaged in the manufacture, sale or distribution of food and beverage products, agricultural products and products related to the development of new food technologies.

Cost & Other Expenses

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.63%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.88%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

PBJ's heaviest allocation is in the Consumer Staples sector, which is about 97.40% of the portfolio.

When you look at individual holdings, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM - Free Report) accounts for about 5.20% of the fund's total assets, followed by Hershey Co/the (HSY - Free Report) and General Mills Inc (GIS - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 45.81% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -2.59% so far this year and is up roughly 5.50% in the last one year (as of 07/01/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $40.33 and $49.16.

The fund has a beta of 0.61 and standard deviation of 19.59% for the trailing three-year period, which makes PBJ a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 32 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Staples ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

VanEck Future of Food ETF tracks ---------------------------------------- and the First Trust NASDAQ Food & Beverage ETF (FTXG - Free Report) tracks Nasdaq US Smart Food & Beverage Index. VanEck Future of Food ETF has $2.87 million in assets, First Trust NASDAQ Food & Beverage ETF has $793.87 million. YUMY has an expense ratio of 0.69% and FTXG charges 0.60%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Consumer Staples ETFs.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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