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Should Motley Fool 100 Index ETF (TMFC) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market? You should consider the Motley Fool 100 Index ETF (TMFC - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 01/30/2018.

The fund is sponsored by Motley Fool Asset Management. It has amassed assets over $424.80 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Growth

Large cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Considered a more stable option, large cap companies boast more predictable cash flows and are less volatile than their mid and small cap counterparts.

Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Something to keep in mind is the higher level of volatility that is affiliated with growth stocks. Even though growth stocks are more likely to outperform their value counterparts in strong bull markets, value stocks have a record of delivering better returns in almost all markets than growth stocks.

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 0.50%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.23%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 40.20% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Telecom round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 14.14% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) and Alphabet Inc (GOOG - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 56.86% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

TMFC seeks to match the performance of the MOTLEY FOOL 100 INDEX before fees and expenses. The Motley Fool 100 Index is an index of US stocks, recommended by The Motley Fool, LLC (TMF) analysts, either in the Motley Fool IQ analyst opinion database or TMF research publications. From this recommendation pool, the index chooses the 100 largest US companies by market cap and weights them according to market capitalization. The index undergoes quarterly reconstitution.

The ETF return is roughly 18.23% so far this year and is down about -2.98% in the last one year (as of 05/01/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $29.82 and $37.67.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 23.29% for the trailing three-year period. With about 99 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Motley Fool 100 Index ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, TMFC is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG - Free Report) and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Growth ETF has $82.47 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $172.34 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.

Bottom-Line

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are 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.

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