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Is Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF (KBWY) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF (KBWY - Free Report) debuted on 12/02/2010, and offers broad exposure to the Real Estate ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

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.

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.

By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.

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, and has been able to amass over $220.95 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Real Estate ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the KBW Nasdaq Premium Yield Equity REIT Index.

The KBW Nasdaq Premium Yield Equity REIT Index is a dividend weighted index seeking to reflect the performance of approximately 24 to 40 small- and mid-cap equity REITs in the US.

Cost & Other Expenses

For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.35%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 8.80%.

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.

Representing 99.40% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Real Estate sector.

Taking into account individual holdings, Global Net Lease Inc (GNL - Free Report) accounts for about 7.26% of the fund's total assets, followed by Site Centers Corp (SITC - Free Report) and Nexpoint Diversified Real Estate Trust (NXDT - Free Report) .

KBWY's top 10 holdings account for about 46.86% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, KBWY has lost about -0.78%, and is up roughly 4.91% in the last one year (as of 01/20/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $16.81 and $21.54.

The ETF has a beta of 1.29 and standard deviation of 23.43% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 32 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco KBW Premium Yield Equity REIT ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Real Estate ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE - Free Report) tracks Real Estate Select Sector Index and the Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select REIT Index. Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF has $7.05 billion in assets, Schwab U.S. REIT ETF has $7.45 billion. XLRE has an expense ratio of 0.09% and SCHH charges 0.07%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Real Estate 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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