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Is Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market, the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 03/01/2006.

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.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

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.

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

RPG is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $2.47 billion, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. RPG, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Pure Growth Index.

The S&P 500 Pure Growth Index measures the performance of securities that exhibit strong growth characteristics in the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.35%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.18%.

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.

Representing 34.40% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Nrg Energy Inc (NRG - Free Report) accounts for about 3.70% of total assets, followed by Fortinet Inc (FTNT - Free Report) and Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 28.5% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, RPG has lost about -19%, and is down about -13.26% in the last one year (as of 08/04/2022). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $142.53 and $220.95.

RPG has a beta of 1.16 and standard deviation of 29.39% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 59 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $76.61 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $178.48 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.

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 Growth.

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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