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Is Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL - Free Report) debuted on 04/26/2017, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend 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.
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.
On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Franklin Templeton Investments. It has amassed assets over $903.28 million, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index before fees and expenses.
The LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 1000 Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 1000 Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors quality, value, momentum and low volatility.
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 one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.91%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 33% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
When you look at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 7.39% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) and Broadcom Inc (AVGO - Free Report) .
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 26.77% of FLQL's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 13.41% so far this year and is up about 15.30% in the last one year (as of 07/07/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $36.61 and $44.77.
The ETF has a beta of 0.92 and standard deviation of 16.21% for the trailing three-year period. With about 212 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index 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 $332.84 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $419.12 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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Is Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL) a Strong ETF Right Now?
A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL - Free Report) debuted on 04/26/2017, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend 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.
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.
On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Franklin Templeton Investments. It has amassed assets over $903.28 million, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index before fees and expenses.
The LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 1000 Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 1000 Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors quality, value, momentum and low volatility.
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 one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.91%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 33% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
When you look at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 7.39% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) and Broadcom Inc (AVGO - Free Report) .
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 26.77% of FLQL's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 13.41% so far this year and is up about 15.30% in the last one year (as of 07/07/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $36.61 and $44.77.
The ETF has a beta of 0.92 and standard deviation of 16.21% for the trailing three-year period. With about 212 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index 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 $332.84 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $419.12 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.