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Is John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM - Free Report) debuted on 09/28/2015, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend 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.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

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 John Hancock. It has amassed assets over $4.86 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend. JHMM seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index before fees and expenses.

The John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are between the 200th and 951st largest U.S. company.

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.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.41%.

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

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector - about 20.7% of the portfolio. Financials and Information Technology round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Western Digital Corp (WDC) accounts for about 0.88% of the fund's total assets, followed by Ciena Corp (CIEN) and Warner Bros Discovery Inc (WBD).

JHMM's top 10 holdings account for about 5.54% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 5.31% so far this year and was up about 11.5% in the last one year (as of 01/29/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $50.32 and $69.38

The fund has a beta of 1.03 and standard deviation of 16.36% for the trailing three-year period, which makes JHMM a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 670 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO) tracks CRSP US Mid Cap Index and the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH) tracks S&P MidCap 400 Index. Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF has $94.03 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $108.35 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH changes 0.05%.

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 - Mid Cap Blend

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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