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

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Making its debut on 12/06/2005, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend 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.

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.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

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 managed by Invesco, and has been able to amass over $18.68 billion, which makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Quality Index before fees and expenses.

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

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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.15% for SPHQ, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

SPHQ's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.03%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

For SPHQ, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 37.5% of the portfolio --while Industrials and Financials round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Mastercard Inc (MA) accounts for about 5.81% of the fund's total assets, followed by Visa Inc (V) and Apple Inc (AAPL).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 43.4% of SPHQ's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, SPHQ has added about 13.32%, and is up roughly 17.24% in the last one year (as of 09/29/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $71.64 and $90.10.

The fund has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 14.48% for the trailing three-year period, which makes SPHQ a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 102 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

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 $42.26 billion in assets, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares has $109.78 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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