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Should Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 12/01/2006.

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $444.77 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Companies that find themselves in the large cap category typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. They tend to be stable companies with predictable cash flows and are usually less volatile than mid and small cap companies.

Blend ETFs are aptly named, since they tend to hold a mix of growth and value stocks, as well as show characteristics of both kinds of equities.

Costs

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

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.25%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.99%.

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 Financials sector--about 19.20% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, General Dynamics Corp (GD - Free Report) accounts for about 1.14% of total assets, followed by Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH - Free Report) and Cvs Health Corp (CVS - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 11.01% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

EQWL seeks to match the performance of the Russell Top 200 Equal Weight Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 100 Equal Weight Index is designed to provide equal-weighted exposure to the securities of the largest 200 companies in the US equity market.

The ETF has lost about -0.59% so far this year and is up roughly 16.93% in the last one year (as of 01/05/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $74.20 and $87.87.

The ETF has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 15.84% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 102 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 100 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, EQWL 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 $393.37 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $485.44 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.

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