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

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The FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF (TILT - Free Report) was launched on 09/16/2011, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend 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.

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.

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

The fund is sponsored by Flexshares. It has amassed assets over $1.53 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund 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

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.

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

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.44%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 23% of the portfolio. Financials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 4.67% 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) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 19.78% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF has added roughly 0% so far, and is up about 24.56% over the last 12 months (as of 01/02/2024). TILT has traded between $148.11 and $183.48 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 1.09 and standard deviation of 18.19% for the trailing three-year period, which makes TILT a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 2045 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 $49.41 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $345.48 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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