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Should Schwab U.S. MidCap ETF (SCHM) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market? You should consider the Schwab U.S. MidCap ETF (SCHM - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 01/13/2011.

The fund is sponsored by Charles Schwab. It has amassed assets over $9.60 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Blend

With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

Blend ETFs usually hold a mix of growth and value stocks as well as stocks that exhibit both value and growth characteristics.

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 0.04%, making it the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.24%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 18.10% of the portfolio. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Intl Flavors + Fragrances Common Stock Usd.125 (IFF - Free Report) accounts for about 0.80% of total assets, followed by Hubspot Inc Common Stock Usd.001 (HUBS - Free Report) and Generac Holdings Inc Common Stock Usd.01 (GNRC - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 6.08% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

SCHM seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Mid-Cap Total Stock Market Index before fees and expenses. The Dow Jones U.S. Mid-Cap Total Stock Market Index is a float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index. The Index includes the mid-cap portion of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index actually available to investors in the marketplace and includes the components ranked 501-1000 by full market capitalization.

The ETF has lost about -8.96% so far this year and it's up approximately 4.42% in the last one year (as of 03/07/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $71.43 and $83.39.

The ETF has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 25.97% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 528 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Schwab U.S. MidCap 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, SCHM is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The Vanguard MidCap ETF (VO - Free Report) and the iShares Core S&P MidCap ETF (IJH - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard MidCap ETF has $52.49 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P MidCap ETF has $63.61 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.

Bottom-Line

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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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