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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RHS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 11/01/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF provides investors broad exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

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.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

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.

Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $596.58 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Consumer Staples ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index equally weights stocks in the consumer staples sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for RHS, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.91%.

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.

For RHS, it has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Staples sector --about 100% of the portfolio.

Taking into account individual holdings, Kroger Co/the (KR - Free Report) accounts for about 3.94% of the fund's total assets, followed by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM - Free Report) and Altria Group Inc (MO - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 35.04% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF return is roughly 3.32% so far, and is up about 8.46% over the last 12 months (as of 05/10/2022). RHS has traded between $153.68 and $180.71 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.61 and standard deviation of 18.64% for the trailing three-year period, which makes RHS a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 33 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Staples ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP - Free Report) tracks Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF has $6.81 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $16.46 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP charges 0.10%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Consumer Staples ETFs.

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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