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Is Invesco Russell 1000 Equal Weight ETF (EQAL) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Russell 1000 Equal Weight ETF (EQAL - Free Report) was launched on 12/23/2014, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - Large 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 offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by Invesco, and has been able to amass over $640.59 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Russell 1000 Equal Weight Index.

The Russell 1000 Equal Weight Index is composed of securities in the Russell 1000 Index and is equally weighted across nine sector groups with each security within the sector receiving equal weight.

Cost & Other Expenses

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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.20% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.68%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

For EQAL, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 11.70% of the portfolio --while Energy and Consumer Staples round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Verizon Communications Inc (VZ - Free Report) accounts for about 0.51% of total assets, followed by T-Mobile Us Inc (TMUS - Free Report) and At&t Inc (T - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 4.76% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -16.43% so far this year and is down about -11.75% in the last one year (as of 07/14/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $38.38 and $48.05.

The fund has a beta of 1.12 and standard deviation of 25.72% for the trailing three-year period, which makes EQAL a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 1015 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco Russell 1000 Equal Weight ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV - Free Report) tracks S&P 500 Index and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY - Free Report) tracks S&P 500 Index. IShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $280.67 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $342.74 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

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 - Large 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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