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Is SPDR Russell 1000 Yield Focus ETF (ONEY) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 12/02/2015, smart beta exchange traded fund SPDR Russell 1000 Yield Focus ETF (ONEY - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the 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.

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.

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

Managed by State Street Global Advisors, ONEY has amassed assets over $770.62 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. ONEY, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Russell 1000 Yield Focused Factor Index.

The Russell 1000 Yield Focused Factor Index reflects the performance of a segment of large-capitalization U.S. equity securities demonstrating a combination of core factors high value, high quality, and low size characteristics, with a focus factor comprising high yield characteristics.

Cost & Other Expenses

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.20%.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.18%.

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.

Representing 16.30% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector; Consumer Discretionary and Industrials round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Phillips 66 (PSX - Free Report) accounts for about 1.95% of the fund's total assets, followed by Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD - Free Report) and Hp Inc. (HPQ - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 13.74% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, ONEY has gained about 5.46%, and was up about 11.38% in the last one year (as of 07/18/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $83.32 and $102.43.

The fund has a beta of 1.11 and standard deviation of 19.82% for the trailing three-year period. With about 302 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR Russell 1000 Yield Focus ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD - Free Report) tracks Russell 1000 Value Index and the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. IShares Russell 1000 Value ETF has $51.34 billion in assets, Vanguard Value ETF has $100.05 billion. IWD has an expense ratio of 0.18% and VTV charges 0.04%.

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 Value.

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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