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Is SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Financials ETFs category of the market, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 06/19/2006.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
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.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
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
KRE is managed by State Street Global Advisors, and this fund has amassed over $2.53 billion, which makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Financials ETFs. KRE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index represents the regional banks segment of the S&P Total Market Index.
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 KRE are 0.35%, which makes it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.75%.
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 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector.
When you look at individual holdings, Zions Bancorp Na (ZION - Free Report) accounts for about 3.32% of the fund's total assets, followed by M + T Bank Corp (MTB - Free Report) and Truist Financial Corp (TFC - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 30.56% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF has lost about -28.03% so far, and is down about -31.78% over the last 12 months (as of 11/10/2023). KRE has traded between $36.08 and $65.03 in this past 52-week period.
The fund has a beta of 1.12 and standard deviation of 31.32% for the trailing three-year period, which makes KRE a high risk choice in this particular space. With about 144 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Financials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (KBWR - Free Report) tracks KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index and the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index. Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF has $49.39 million in assets, iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF has $592.80 million. KBWR has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IAT charges 0.40%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Financials 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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Is SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Designed to provide broad exposure to the Financials ETFs category of the market, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 06/19/2006.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
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.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
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
KRE is managed by State Street Global Advisors, and this fund has amassed over $2.53 billion, which makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Financials ETFs. KRE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index represents the regional banks segment of the S&P Total Market Index.
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 KRE are 0.35%, which makes it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.75%.
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 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector.
When you look at individual holdings, Zions Bancorp Na (ZION - Free Report) accounts for about 3.32% of the fund's total assets, followed by M + T Bank Corp (MTB - Free Report) and Truist Financial Corp (TFC - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 30.56% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF has lost about -28.03% so far, and is down about -31.78% over the last 12 months (as of 11/10/2023). KRE has traded between $36.08 and $65.03 in this past 52-week period.
The fund has a beta of 1.12 and standard deviation of 31.32% for the trailing three-year period, which makes KRE a high risk choice in this particular space. With about 144 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Financials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (KBWR - Free Report) tracks KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index and the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index. Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF has $49.39 million in assets, iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF has $592.80 million. KBWR has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IAT charges 0.40%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Financials 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.