Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP - Free Report) was launched on 04/24/2003, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $48.37 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Companies that fall in the large cap category tend to have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Overall, they are usually a stable option, with less risk and more sure-fire cash flows than mid and small cap companies.

Blend ETFs usually hold a mix of growth and value stocks as well as stocks that exhibit both value and growth characteristics.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.20%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.64%.

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 to the Industrials sector--about 15.40% of the portfolio. Financials and Information Technology round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC - Free Report) accounts for about 0.23% of total assets, followed by General Dynamics Corp (GD - Free Report) and Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 2.26% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

RSP seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 500 Equal Weight Index equally weights the stocks in the S&P 500 Index.

The ETF has added roughly 12.98% so far this year and was up about 13.68% in the last one year (as of 12/25/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $133.66 and $157.53.

The ETF has a beta of 1.07 and standard deviation of 17.35% for the trailing three-year period. With about 504 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight 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, RSP is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV - Free Report) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY - Free Report) track a similar index. While iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $386.08 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $493.04 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

Bottom-Line

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.

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.

Published in