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Is Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market, the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 03/01/2006.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

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

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

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.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $2.27 billion, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. RPG is managed by Invesco. RPG, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Pure Growth Index.

The S&P 500 Pure Growth Index measures the performance of securities that exhibit strong growth characteristics in the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.47%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

RPG's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 36.30% of the portfolio. Its Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH - Free Report) accounts for about 4.04% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nrg Energy Inc (NRG - Free Report) and Devon Energy Corp (DVN - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 26.99% of RPG's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -25.94% and is down about -17.95% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/05/2022), respectively. RPG has traded between $142.53 and $220.95 during this last 52-week period.

RPG has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 29.88% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 59 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $70.16 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $155.59 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Growth.

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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