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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (IYK)?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market? You should consider the iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (IYK - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 06/12/2000.

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Consumer Staples - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 14, placing it in bottom 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.36 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market. IYK seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Index before fees and expenses.

The Russell 1000 Consumer Staples RIC 22.5/45 Capped Index measures the performance of the consumer goods sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

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.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.74%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a 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 Consumer Staples sector--about 89.30% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Materials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Procter & Gamble (PG - Free Report) accounts for about 16.38% of total assets, followed by Pepsico Inc (PEP - Free Report) and Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 65.33% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -5.56% so far this year and is down about -3.03% in the last one year (as of 11/17/2023). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $178.71 and $210.04.

The ETF has a beta of 0.77 and standard deviation of 14.06% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 59 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, IYK is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

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 $6.29 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $15.48 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP charges 0.10%.

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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