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Is FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF (TILT) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 09/16/2011, the FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF (TILT - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market.

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.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $1.48 billion, this makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. TILT is managed by Flexshares. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt Index.

The Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt Index measures the performance of U.S. equity markets with increased exposure toward small-capitalization and value stocks.

Cost & Other Expenses

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.25% for TILT, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.48%.

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.

TILT's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 20.60% of the portfolio. Its Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 4.54% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT - Free Report) and Amazon.com Inc Common Stock Usd 0.01 (AMZN - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 15.35% of TILT's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -12.49% so far this year and is down about -8.18% in the last one year (as of 12/01/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $138.28 and $184.14.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 26.19% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 2282 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT - Free Report) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $41.29 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $274.73 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.

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 - All Cap Blend.

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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