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Should iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 10/23/2000.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $20.35 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Companies that find themselves in the large cap category typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Considered a more stable option, large cap companies boast more predictable cash flows and are less volatile than their mid and small cap counterparts.

Typically holding a combination of both growth and value stocks, blend ETFs also demonstrate qualities seen in value and growth investments.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.20%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.93%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 39.60% of the portfolio. Telecom and Financials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) accounts for about 9.67% of total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) and Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 50.63% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

OEF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 100 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 100 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market. It is a subset of the S&P 500 and consists of blue chip stocks from diverse industries in the S&P 500 with exchange listed options & the Index represented approximately 45% of the market capitalization of listed U.S. equities.

The ETF has added roughly 5.36% so far this year and is up about 15.01% in the last one year (as of 06/30/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $240.38 and $303.11.

The ETF has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 17.97% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 105 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares S&P 100 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, OEF is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY - Free Report) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO - Free Report) track a similar index. While SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $627.43 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $684.65 billion. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VOO charges 0.03%.

Bottom-Line

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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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