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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 11/01/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs 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.

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.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other 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

Managed by Invesco, RSPS has amassed assets over $533.18 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Consumer Staples ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 EQL WEIGHT CONSUMER STAPLES INDX before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index equally weights stocks in the consumer staples sector of the S&P 500 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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for RSPS, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.82%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Representing 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Consumer Staples sector.

Taking into account individual holdings, Costco Wholesale Corp (COST - Free Report) accounts for about 2.91% of the fund's total assets, followed by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA - Free Report) and Kraft Heinz Co/the (KHC - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 27.97% of RSPS's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF has lost about -13.41% so far, and is down about -11.13% over the last 12 months (as of 11/02/2023). RSPS has traded between $28.40 and $35.44 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.63 and standard deviation of 13.60% for the trailing three-year period. With about 39 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Staples ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP - Free Report) tracks Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF has $6.46 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $15.80 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP charges 0.10%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Consumer Staples ETFs.

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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