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Is Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 12/06/2005, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

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.

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.

Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

SPHQ is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $6.06 billion, which makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. SPHQ, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Quality Index.

The S&P 500 Quality Index tracks the performance of stocks in the S&P 500 Index that have the highest quality score, which is calculated based on three fundamental measures, return on equity, accruals ratio and financial leverage ratio.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.62%.

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 31.20% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Energy round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) accounts for about 5.79% of the fund's total assets, followed by Alphabet Inc (GOOG - Free Report) and Mastercard Inc (MA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 45.42% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, SPHQ has gained about 14.74%, and it's up approximately 19.45% in the last one year (as of 10/25/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $42.08 and $52.55.

SPHQ has a beta of 0.93 and standard deviation of 17.65% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 101 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Quality 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 Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO - Free Report) tracks Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index and the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ US Dividend Achievers Select Index. IShares Core Dividend Growth ETF has $22.62 billion in assets, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF has $65.40 billion. DGRO has an expense ratio of 0.08% and VIG charges 0.06%.

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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