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Is SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE - Free Report) debuted on 11/08/2005, and offers broad exposure to the Financials ETFs 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.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking 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.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $322.57 million, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Financials ETFs. KCE is managed by State Street Global Advisors. Before fees and expenses, KCE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Capital Markets Select Industry Index.

The S&P Capital Markets Select Industry Index represents the capital markets segment of the S&P Total Market Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 2.03%.

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.

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

When you look at individual holdings, Blue Owl Capital Inc (OWL - Free Report) accounts for about 1.97% of the fund's total assets, followed by Cme Group Inc (CME - Free Report) and Cboe Global Markets Inc (CBOE - Free Report) .

KCE's top 10 holdings account for about 18.8% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, KCE has gained about 9.22%, and is up about 9.70% in the last one year (as of 11/03/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $76.39 and $92.85.

The fund has a beta of 1.19 and standard deviation of 23.19% for the trailing three-year period, which makes KCE a high risk choice in this particular space. With about 66 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Financials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

IShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Investment Services Index. The fund has $375.66 million in assets. IAI has an expense ratio of 0.40%.

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