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Is iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF (IUSG) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 07/24/2000, smart beta exchange traded fund iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF (IUSG - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Growth 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.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $12.47 billion, this makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Growth. IUSG is managed by Blackrock. IUSG, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P 900 Growth Index.

The S&P 900 Growth Index measures the performance of the large and mid-capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market.

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.

With one of the least expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.04%.

IUSG's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.01%.

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.

IUSG's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 32.70% of the portfolio. Its Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 12.69% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) .

IUSG's top 10 holdings account for about 40.17% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF has added roughly 10.56% so far, and is down about -1% over the last 12 months (as of 05/09/2023). IUSG has traded between $78.88 and $99.02 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 1.06 and standard deviation of 22.64% for the trailing three-year period, which makes IUSG a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 476 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Growth segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF (FPX - Free Report) tracks IPOX-100 U.S. Index and the iShares Morningstar Growth ETF (ILCG - Free Report) tracks MORNINGSTAR US LARGE-MID CP BRD GRWTH ID. First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF has $769.30 million in assets, iShares Morningstar Growth ETF has $1.61 billion. FPX has an expense ratio of 0.57% and ILCG 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 - All Cap Growth.

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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