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Should You Invest in the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF (RYE)?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Energy - Broad segment of the U.S. equity market, look no further than the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 11/01/2006.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Energy - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 13, placing it in bottom 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco Powershares. It has amassed assets over $262.57 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Broad segment of the U.S. equity market. RYE seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy Index is an unmanaged equal weighted version of the S&P 500 Energy Index that consists of the common stocks of the following industries: oil and gas exploration, production, marketing, refining and/or transportation and energy equipment and services industries that comprise the Energy sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Costs

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

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.50%.

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 Energy sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Conocophillips (COP - Free Report) accounts for about 3.56% of total assets, followed by Marathon Oil Corp (MRO - Free Report) and Apache Corp (APA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 34.38% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -1.65% so far this year and is down about -1.80% in the last one year (as of 04/13/2018). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $48.74 and $63.19.

The ETF has a beta of 1.17 and standard deviation of 27.90% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 31 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, RYE is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Energy ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE - Free Report) tracks Energy Select Sector Index. Vanguard Energy ETF has $4.11 B in assets, Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund has $18.21 B. VDE has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLE charges 0.13%.

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.