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Is American Century U.S. Quality Growth ETF (QGRO) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 09/10/2018, the American Century U.S. Quality Growth ETF (QGRO - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Growth 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.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by American Century Investments, and has been able to amass over $969.33 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Growth. QGRO, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the AMERICAN CENTURY U.S. QUALITY GROWTH IND.

The American Century U.S. Quality Growth Index seeks to select securities of large and mid-capitalization U.S. companies with attractive growth and quality fundamentals.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.29% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.31%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

For QGRO, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 35.50% of the portfolio --while Industrials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Booking Holdings Inc Common Stock Usd.008 (BKNG - Free Report) accounts for about 3.25% of the fund's total assets, followed by Amazon.com Inc Common Stock Usd.01 (AMZN - Free Report) and Veralto Corp Common Stock Usd.01 (VLTO - Free Report) .

QGRO's top 10 holdings account for about 25.6% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 27.79% so far this year and was up about 43.18% in the last one year (as of 11/07/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $68.05 and $96.99.

The fund has a beta of 1.05 and standard deviation of 21.93% for the trailing three-year period. With about 185 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

American Century U.S. Quality Growth ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Fidelity Blue Chip Growth ETF (FBCG - Free Report) tracks ---------------------------------------- and the iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF (IUSG - Free Report) tracks S&P 900 Growth Index. Fidelity Blue Chip Growth ETF has $2.48 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF has $20.46 billion. FBCG has an expense ratio of 0.59% and IUSG charges 0.04%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - All Cap Growth.

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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