Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 09/28/2015.

The fund is sponsored by John Hancock. It has amassed assets over $1.44 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Blend

Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

Typically holding a combination of both growth and value stocks, blend ETFs also demonstrate qualities seen in value and growth investments.

Costs

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 counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.42%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.13%.

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 to the Information Technology sector--about 20.70% of the portfolio. Industrials and Healthcare round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Synopsys Inc (SNPS - Free Report) accounts for about 0.47% of total assets, followed by Ansys Inc (ANSS - Free Report) and Parker Hannifin Corp (PH - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 3.5% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

JHMM seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index before fees and expenses. The John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are between the 200th and 951st largest U.S. company.

The ETF has lost about -9.24% so far this year and is down about -1.53% in the last one year (as of 06/24/2020). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $24 and $40.48.

The ETF has a beta of 1.18 and standard deviation of 24.16% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 691 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap 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, JHMM is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The Vanguard MidCap ETF (VO - Free Report) and the iShares Core SP MidCap ETF (IJH - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard MidCap ETF has $31.48 billion in assets, iShares Core SP MidCap ETF has $42.65 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.06%.

Bottom-Line

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also 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.

Published in