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Is SoFi Select 500 ETF (SFY) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 04/11/2019, smart beta exchange traded fund SoFi Select 500 ETF (SFY - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

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.

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.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

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

SFY is managed by Sofi, and this fund has amassed over $516.29 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the SOLACTIVE SOFI US 500 GROWTH INDEX .

The Solactive SoFi US 500 Growth Index follows a rules-based methodology that tracks the performance of 500 of the largest U.S.-listed companies weighted based on a proprietary mix of their market capitalization and fundamental factors.

Cost & Other Expenses

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.05% for SFY, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.54%.

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 SFY, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 39% of the portfolio --while Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 13.32% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 42.38% of SFY's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 12.34% so far this year and it's up approximately 21.73% in the last one year (as of 07/24/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $90.76 and $121.62

SFY has a beta of 1.07 and standard deviation of 18.94% for the trailing three-year period. With about 504 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

SoFi Select 500 ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $179.85 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $358.67 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ changes 0.20%.

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 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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