Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF (SLY) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If you're interested in broad exposure to the Small Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, look no further than the SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 11/08/2005.

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.81 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Small Cap Blend

There's a lot of potential to investing in small cap companies, but with market capitalization below $2 billion, that high potential comes with even higher risk.

Blend ETFs usually hold a mix of growth and value stocks as well as stocks that exhibit both value and growth characteristics.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.15%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.34%.

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 17.80% of the portfolio. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Agree Realty Corporation (ADC - Free Report) accounts for about 0.63% of total assets, followed by Exponent Inc. (EXPO - Free Report) and Amn Healthcare Services Inc. (AMN - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 4.52% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

SLY seeks to match the performance of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P SmallCap 600 Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector in the US equity market.

The ETF has gained about 11.43% so far this year and is up about 1.93% in the last one year (as of 02/07/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $75.61 and $96.35.

The ETF has a beta of 1.16 and standard deviation of 31.48% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 604 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, SLY is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM - Free Report) and the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR - Free Report) track a similar index. While iShares Russell 2000 ETF has $56.92 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF has $72.62 billion. IWM has an expense ratio of 0.19% and IJR charges 0.06%.

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.

Published in