Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RHS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF was launched on 11/01/2006, 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?

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.

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.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.

Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Managed by Invesco, RHS has amassed assets over $675.42 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Consumer Staples ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index equally weights stocks in the consumer staples sector of the S&P 500 Index.

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.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.40%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.38%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Staples sector - about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Campbell Soup Co (CPB - Free Report) accounts for about 3.14% of total assets, followed by Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (LW - Free Report) and General Mills Inc (GIS - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 30.95% of RHS's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -2.67% so far this year and is down about -0.99% in the last one year (as of 01/20/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $153.79 and $180.71.

The fund has a beta of 0.61 and standard deviation of 19.81% for the trailing three-year period, which makes RHS a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 34 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples 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.

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP - Free Report) tracks Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF has $6.53 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $16.97 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP charges 0.10%.

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.

Published in