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Is IQ Chaikin U.S. Large Cap ETF (CLRG) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 12/13/2017, the IQ Chaikin U.S. Large Cap ETF 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?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

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.

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 managed by New York Life Investments, and has been able to amass over $269.79 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, CLRG seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ CHAIKIN POWER US LARGE CAP INDEX .

The NASDAQ Chaikin Power US Large Cap Index applies a quantitative multi-factor model that seeks to identify securities that are expected to outperform peers by selecting securities from the Nasdaq US 300 Index.

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.

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 1.46%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, 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 23.40% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Financials round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS - Free Report) accounts for about 1.59% of the fund's total assets, followed by Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD - Free Report) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM - Free Report) .

CLRG's top 10 holdings account for about 14.29% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 6.76% so far this year and is up roughly 12.02% in the last one year (as of 07/12/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $28.38 and $33.67.

The ETF has a beta of 1.03 and standard deviation of 17.30% for the trailing three-year period. With about 103 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IQ Chaikin U.S. Large Cap 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 $336.69 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $420 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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