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Is Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market, the Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 12/06/2005.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

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

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.

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

Because the fund has amassed over $15.51 billion, this makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. SPHQ is managed by Invesco. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Quality Index.

The S&P 500 Quality Index tracks the performance of stocks in the S&P 500 Index that have the highest quality score, which is calculated based on three fundamental measures, return on equity, accruals ratio and financial leverage ratio.

Cost & Other Expenses

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

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.15% for this ETF, which makes it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.08%.

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 Information Technology sector - about 28% of the portfolio. Industrials and Consumer Staples round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) accounts for about 4.93% of total assets, followed by General Electric Co (GE) and Visa Inc (V).

SPHQ's top 10 holdings account for about 40.7% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 0.25% and it's up approximately 14.08% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 03/23/2026), respectively. SPHQ has traded between $59.24 and $80.94 during this last 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 13.73% for the trailing three-year period, which makes SPHQ a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 103 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO) tracks Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index and the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares (VIG) tracks NASDAQ US Dividend Achievers Select Index. iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF has $36.6 billion in assets, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares has $98.02 billion. DGRO has an expense ratio of 0.08% and VIG changes 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 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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