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Is SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE - Free Report) was launched on 11/08/2005, 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?

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.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $561.71 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Financials ETFs. KCE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Capital Markets Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Capital Markets Select Industry Index represents the capital markets segment of the S&P Total Market Index.

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.

Annual operating expenses for KCE are 0.35%, which makes it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.49%.

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.

KCE's heaviest allocation is in the Financials sector, which is about 100% of the portfolio.

When you look at individual holdings, Tradeweb Markets Inc Class A (TW - Free Report) accounts for about 1.86% of the fund's total assets, followed by Robinhood Markets Inc A (HOOD - Free Report) and Lpl Financial Holdings Inc (LPLA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 18.1% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, KCE has added about 5.24%, and it's up approximately 46.61% in the last one year (as of 01/24/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $99.86 and $148.51.

KCE has a beta of 1.21 and standard deviation of 22.71% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 64 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Capital Markets 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.

IShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF (IAI - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Investment Services Index. The fund has $2.20 billion in assets. IAI has an expense ratio of 0.40%.

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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