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Is Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 12/01/2006, the Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

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.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

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

EQWL is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $254.74 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. EQWL seeks to match the performance of the Russell Top 200 Equal Weight Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P 100 Equal Weight Index is designed to provide equal-weighted exposure to the securities of the largest 200 companies in the US equity market.

Cost & Other Expenses

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 cousins, other things remaining the same.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.25%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.97%.

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 in the Information Technology sector - about 17% of the portfolio. Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) accounts for about 1.16% of the fund's total assets, followed by Intel Corp (INTC - Free Report) and Netflix Inc (NFLX - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 11.1% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF return is roughly 10% so far, and was up about 19.75% over the last 12 months (as of 06/19/2023). EQWL has traded between $66.43 and $82.02 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.98 and standard deviation of 16.90% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 103 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV - Free Report) tracks S&P 500 Index and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY - Free Report) tracks S&P 500 Index. IShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $329.05 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $415.17 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

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 Blend.

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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