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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RSPF) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RSPF - Free Report) was launched on 11/01/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Financials ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by Invesco. RSPF has been able to amass assets over $274.80 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Financials ETFs. RSPF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 EQUAL WEIGHT FINANCIALS INDEX before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials Index equally weights stocks in the financial sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

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 RSPF are 0.40%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 2.01%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.

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

Taking into account individual holdings, Franklin Resources Inc (BEN - Free Report) accounts for about 1.53% of the fund's total assets, followed by Invesco Ltd (IVZ - Free Report) and Blackstone Inc (BX - Free Report) .

RSPF's top 10 holdings account for about 14.91% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, RSPF has added about 7.58%, and is up about 0% in the last one year (as of 03/27/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $48.10 and $63.25.

The fund has a beta of 1.07. With about 73 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials 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.

Vanguard Financials ETF (VFH - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Financials 25/50 Index and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF - Free Report) tracks Financial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Financials ETF has $9.36 billion in assets, Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $37.72 billion. VFH has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLF charges 0.09%.

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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