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Should State Street SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth ETF (MDYG) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market? You should consider the State Street SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth ETF (MDYG - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on November 8, 2005.

The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $2.75 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Growth

Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. Thus, companies that fall under this category provide a stable and growth-heavy investment.

While growth stocks do boast higher than average sales and earnings growth rates, and they are expected to grow faster than the wider market, investors should note these kinds of stocks have higher valuations. Also, growth stocks are a type of equity that carries more risk compared to others. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.15%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.64%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Industrials sector -- about 32.8% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Technipfmc Plc (FTI) accounts for about 1.72% of total assets, followed by Flex Ltd (FLEX) and Curtiss Wright Corp (CW).

The top 10 holdings account for about 14.35% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

MDYG seeks to match the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index measures the performance of the mid-capitalization growth sector in the U.S. equity market.

The ETF return is roughly 14.67% so far this year and is up roughly 24.37% in the last one year (as of 06/11/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $83.95 and $110.25.

The ETF has a beta of 1.06 and standard deviation of 18.45% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 244 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

State Street SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth 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, MDYG is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF Shares (VOT) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Index Fund ETF Shares has $18.50 billion in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $19.77 billion. VOT has an expense ratio of 0.05% and IWP charges 0.23%.

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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