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Should iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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The iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW - Free Report) was launched on 05/22/2000, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $44 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Growth

Large cap companies usually have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Considered a more stable option, large cap companies boast more predictable cash flows and are less volatile than their mid and small cap counterparts.

While growth stocks do boast higher than average sales and earnings growth rates, and they are expected to grow faster than the wider market, investors should note these kinds of stocks have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.18%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.79%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 47.70% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Telecom round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) accounts for about 13.03% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 57.77% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

IVW seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 500 Growth Index measures the performance of the large capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market.

The ETF return is roughly 12.52% so far this year and was up about 37.10% in the last one year (as of 03/27/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $61.79 and $85.14.

The ETF has a beta of 1.05 and standard deviation of 21.17% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 231 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares S&P 500 Growth ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IVW is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG - Free Report) and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Growth ETF has $117.98 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $256.77 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.

Bottom-Line

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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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