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Is Invesco FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF (PRF) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 12/19/2005, the Invesco FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF (PRF - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value 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.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer 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.

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.

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

PRF is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $6.32 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. PRF, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index.

The FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index is designed to track the performance of the largest U.S. equities, selected based on the following four fundamental measures of firm size: book value, income, sales and dividends. U.S. equities are then weighted by each of these four fundamental measures.An overall weight is calculated for each firm by equally-weighting each fundamental measure.

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 0.39% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.86%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

For PRF, it has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector --about 20% of the portfolio --while Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK/B) accounts for about 2.93% of the fund's total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) .

PRF's top 10 holdings account for about 19.26% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, PRF has added about 10.50%, and is up roughly 5.57% in the last one year (as of 12/04/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $29.89 and $33.99.

The fund has a beta of 1 and standard deviation of 16.12% for the trailing three-year period, which makes PRF a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 1012 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

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 $51.95 billion in assets, Vanguard Value ETF has $101.87 billion. IWD has an expense ratio of 0.19% 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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