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

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market, the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 03/01/2006.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

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.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by Invesco, and has been able to amass over $1.88 billion, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. Before fees and expenses, RPG 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

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.25%.

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.

For RPG, it has heaviest allocation in the Energy sector --about 28.10% of the portfolio --while Healthcare and Information Technology round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Steel Dynamics Inc (STLD - Free Report) accounts for about 2.79% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nucor Corp (NUE - Free Report) and Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 24.12% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, RPG has lost about -1.03%, and is down about -2.39% in the last one year (as of 06/13/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $141.64 and $176.23.

The fund has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 24.67% for the trailing three-year period, which makes RPG a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 77 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 $89.86 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $195.31 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.

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