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Should You Invest in the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF (RTM)?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Materials - Broad segment of the equity market, look no further than the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials 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 are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Materials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 9, placing it in bottom 44%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $450.81 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Materials - Broad segment of the equity market. RTM seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials Index is an unmanaged equal weighted version of the S&P 500 Materials Index that consists of the common stocks of the following industries: chemicals, construction materials, containers and packaging, metals and mining, and paper and forest products that comprise the Materials sector of the S&P 500 Index.

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 0.40%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.45%.

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 Materials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Ball Corp accounts for about 3.81% of total assets, followed by International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF - Free Report) and Sealed Air Corp (SEE - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 37.48% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 20.84% so far this year and was up about 45.57% in the last one year (as of 09/28/2021). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $115.20 and $177.38.

The ETF has a beta of 1.11 and standard deviation of 28.29% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 30 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, RTM is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Materials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR - Free Report) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB - Free Report) tracks Materials Select Sector Index. FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $5.64 billion in assets, Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $7.73 billion. GUNR has an expense ratio of 0.46% and XLB charges 0.12%.

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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