Back to top

Image: Bigstock

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

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG - Free Report) made its debut on 03/01/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader 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.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Managed by Invesco, RPG has amassed assets over $2.21 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. This particular fund, 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

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

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

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.72%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Energy sector - about 29.60% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Information Technology round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Mosaic Co/the (MOS - Free Report) accounts for about 2.60% of total assets, followed by Apa Corp (APA - Free Report) and Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 21.85% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, RPG has added about 2.92%, and is down about -14.38% in the last one year (as of 02/09/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $141.64 and $189.98.

The fund has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 30.91% for the trailing three-year period, which makes RPG a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 75 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 $78.03 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $161.92 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