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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF (RTM) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 11/01/2006, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Materials ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

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.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

RTM is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $388.80 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Materials ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials Index.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials Index equally weights stocks in the materials sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.

With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.40%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.92%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Representing 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Materials sector.

Looking at individual holdings, Mosaic Co/the (MOS - Free Report) accounts for about 5.81% of total assets, followed by Cf Industries Holdings Inc (CF - Free Report) and Newmont Corp (NEM - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 44.56% of RTM's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -13.29% so far this year and is down about -4.72% in the last one year (as of 07/18/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $150.89 and $190.46.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 28.79% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 29 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Materials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB - Free Report) tracks Materials Select Sector Index and the FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR - Free Report) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index. Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $5.89 billion in assets, FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $6.99 billion. XLB has an expense ratio of 0.10% and GUNR charges 0.46%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Materials ETFs.

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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