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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF (IYC)?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF (IYC - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 06/12/2000.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Consumer Discretionary - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 13, placing it in bottom 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.43 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market. IYC seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Services Index before fees and expenses.

The Russell 1000 Consumer Disc 40 Act 15/22.5 Daily Capped Index measures the performance of the consumer services sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

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.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.41%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.40%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector--about 74% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Staples round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Amazon Com Inc (AMZN - Free Report) accounts for about 13.81% of total assets, followed by Tesla Inc (TSLA - Free Report) and Home Depot Inc (HD - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 52.49% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -4.15% so far this year and was up about 15.86% in the last one year (as of 01/10/2022). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $68.94 and $86.98.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 21.72% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 179 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, IYC is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY - Free Report) tracks Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF has $7.18 billion in assets, Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF has $22.85 billion. VCR has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLY charges 0.12%.

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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