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Should iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF (JKH) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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The iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF was launched on 06/28/2004, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $275.60 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Growth

Mid cap companies have market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion. They usually have higher growth prospects than large cap companies and are less volatile than small cap companies. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

Qualities of growth stocks include faster growth rates compared to the broader market, as well as higher valuations and higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. Also, growth stocks are a type of equity that carries more risk compared to others. When you consider growth versus value, growth stocks are usually the clear winner in strong bull markets but tend to fall flat in nearly all other environments.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.30%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.40%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 31.70% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Servicenow Inc (NOW - Free Report) accounts for about 1.56% of total assets, followed by Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW - Free Report) and Red Hat Inc .

The top 10 holdings account for about 12.51% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

JKH seeks to match the performance of the Morningstar Mid Growth Index before fees and expenses. The Morningstar Mid Growth Index measures the performance of stocks issued by mid-capitalization companies. The Morningstar index methodology defines mid-capitalization stocks as those stocks that form the 20% of market capitalization between the 70th and 90th percentile of the market capitalization of the stocks eligible to be included in the Morningstar US Market Index.

The ETF return is roughly 8.97% so far this year and was up about 20.14% in the last one year (as of 06/26/2018). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $180.53 and $226.72.

The ETF has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 14.49% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 213 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, JKH is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Mid Cap ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK - Free Report) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP - Free Report) track a similar index. While iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF has $8.06 B in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $8.80 B. IJK has an expense ratio of 0.25% and IWP charges 0.25%.

Bottom-Line

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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.