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Is Invesco Global Water ETF (PIO) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Global Water ETF (PIO - Free Report) was launched on 06/13/2007, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Industrials ETFs 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.

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.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking 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.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Managed by Invesco, PIO has amassed assets over $273.92 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Industrials ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ OMX Global Water Index before fees and expenses.

The NASDAQ OMX Global Water Index is designed to track the performance of companies worldwide that are creating products that conserve and purify water for homes, businesses and industries.

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.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.75%, making it one of the most expensive products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.95%.

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.

When you look at individual holdings, Roper Technologies Inc (ROP - Free Report) accounts for about 8.09% of the fund's total assets, followed by Danaher Corp (DHR - Free Report) and Pentair Plc (PNR - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 57.12% of PIO's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco Global Water ETF return is roughly 4.92% so far, and was up about 0.98% over the last 12 months (as of 04/27/2023). PIO has traded between $28.37 and $36.59 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.96 and standard deviation of 19.06% for the trailing three-year period, which makes PIO a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 50 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Global Water ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

First Trust Water ETF (FIW - Free Report) tracks ISE Clean Edge Water Index and the Invesco Water Resources ETF (PHO - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ OMX US Water Index. First Trust Water ETF has $1.26 billion in assets, Invesco Water Resources ETF has $1.70 billion. FIW has an expense ratio of 0.53% and PHO charges 0.59%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Industrials ETFs.

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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