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Is Fidelity Value Factor ETF (FVAL) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 09/12/2016, smart beta exchange traded fund Fidelity Value Factor ETF (FVAL - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value 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.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other 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

Managed by Fidelity, FVAL has amassed assets over $1.28 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. FVAL seeks to match the performance of the Fidelity U.S. Value Factor Index before fees and expenses.

The Fidelity U.S. Value Factor Index reflects the performance of stocks of large and mid-capitalization U.S. companies that have attractive valuations.

Cost & Other Expenses

For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.

With one of the least expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.49%.

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.

FVAL's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 34.2% of the portfolio. Its Financials and Telecom round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 7.43% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Alphabet Inc Cl A (GOOGL).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 40% of FVAL's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 11.03% so far this year and is up roughly 32.45% in the last one year (as of 05/29/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $61.24 and $79.94

FVAL has a beta of 0.95 and standard deviation of 14.11% for the trailing three-year period. With about 129 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

Fidelity Value Factor 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) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and the Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF Shares (VTV) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF has $94.82 billion in assets, Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF Shares has $177.46 billion. SCHD has an expense ratio of 0.06% and VTV changes 0.03%.

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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