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Is Invesco FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF (PRF) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 12/19/2005, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF (PRF - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

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.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

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

Because the fund has amassed over $7.81 billion, this makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. PRF is managed by Invesco. PRF seeks to match the performance of the FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index before fees and expenses.

The FTSE RAFI US 1000 Index is designed to track the performance of the largest U.S. equities, selected based on the following four fundamental measures of firm size: book value, income, sales and dividends. U.S. equities are then weighted by each of these four fundamental measures.An overall weight is calculated for each firm by equally-weighting each fundamental measure.

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 PRF are 0.39%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

PRF's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.69%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector - about 23.10% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Jpmorgan Chase & Co (JPM - Free Report) accounts for about 2.42% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK/B).

PRF's top 10 holdings account for about 18.29% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, PRF return is roughly 5.63%, and is up about 19.49% in the last one year (as of 02/20/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $36.31 and $42.90.

The fund has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 15.25% for the trailing three-year period, which makes PRF a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 1003 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco FTSE RAFI US 1000 ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF has $68.98 billion in assets, Vanguard Value ETF has $137.10 billion. SCHD has an expense ratio of 0.06% and VTV 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 - Large Cap Value.

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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