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Is FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF (TILT) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 09/16/2011, the FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF (TILT - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

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.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of 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

TILT is managed by Flexshares, and this fund has amassed over $1.45 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt Index.

The Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt Index measures the performance of U.S. equity markets with increased exposure toward small-capitalization and value stocks.

Cost & Other Expenses

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.25%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.39%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 21.30% of the portfolio. Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 4.27% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT - Free Report) and Amazon.com Inc Common Stock Usd 0.01 (AMZN - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 17.84% of TILT's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -15.56% so far this year and is down about -6.06% in the last one year (as of 05/26/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $151.18 and $184.34.

The fund has a beta of 1.09 and standard deviation of 24.64% for the trailing three-year period, which makes TILT a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 2439 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

FlexShares Morningstar U.S. Market Factor Tilt ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT - Free Report) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $39.18 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $255.33 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.

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 Blend.

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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