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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 11/01/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

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. RSPS has been able to amass assets over $426.43 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Consumer Staples ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 EQL WEIGHT CONSUMER STAPLES INDX.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index equally weights stocks in the consumer staples sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

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

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.40%.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.78%.

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.

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

When you look at individual holdings, Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM - Free Report) accounts for about 2.94% of the fund's total assets, followed by Mccormick & Co Inc/md (MKC - Free Report) and Bunge Global Sa (BG - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 27.96% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, RSPS has added about 1.91%, and is down about -7.12% in the last one year (as of 05/07/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $28.40 and $34.95.

The ETF has a beta of 0.60 and standard deviation of 13.44% for the trailing three-year period. With about 39 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Staples ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

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 $6.55 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $14.43 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP 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 Consumer Staples 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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