Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Invesco Defensive Equity ETF (DEF) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Making its debut on 12/15/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco Defensive Equity ETF provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

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.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

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.

Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $271.30 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Guggenheim Defensive Equity Index.

The Invesco Defensive Equity Index is designed to provide exposure to securities of large-cap US issuers.

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 on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.55%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.18%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector - about 23.40% of the portfolio. Industrials and Consumer Staples round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Cardinal Health Inc (CAH - Free Report) accounts for about 1.25% of total assets, followed by Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ - Free Report) and Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc (BR - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 11.44% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco Defensive Equity ETF has lost about -9.11% so far, and is down about -4.05% over the last 12 months (as of 11/01/2022). DEF has traded between $60.13 and $73.11 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.84 and standard deviation of 22.65% for the trailing three-year period, which makes DEF a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 101 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

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

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 $68.84 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $152.25 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.

Published in