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Should iShares Russell MidCap Value ETF (IWS) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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The iShares Russell MidCap Value ETF (IWS - Free Report) was launched on 07/17/2001, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Value segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $13.36 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Value segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Value

Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. These types of companies, then, have a good balance of stability and growth potential.

Carrying lower than average price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios, value stocks also have lower than average sales and earnings growth rates. When you look at long-term performance, value stocks have outperformed growth stocks in nearly all markets. But in strong bull markets, growth stocks are more likely to be winners.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.23%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.69%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector--about 16.20% of the portfolio. Industrials and Real Estate round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Realty Income Reit Corp (O - Free Report) accounts for about 0.68% of total assets, followed by Phillips 66 (PSX - Free Report) and Corteva Inc (CTVA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 6.13% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

IWS seeks to match the performance of the Russell MidCap Value Index before fees and expenses. The Russell Midcap Value Index measures the performance of the mid-capitalization value sector of the U.S. equity market.

The ETF has lost about -9.42% so far this year and is down about -3.32% in the last one year (as of 08/02/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $99.42 and $123.59.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 27.11% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 711 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares Russell MidCap Value ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IWS is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Value segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares S&P MidCap 400 Value ETF (IJJ - Free Report) and the Vanguard MidCap Value ETF (VOE - Free Report) track a similar index. While iShares S&P MidCap 400 Value ETF has $7.66 billion in assets, Vanguard MidCap Value ETF has $15.91 billion. IJJ has an expense ratio of 0.18% and VOE charges 0.07%.

Bottom-Line

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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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