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Is IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF (CSML) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 05/16/2017, smart beta exchange traded fund IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

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.

By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.

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 sponsored by New York Life Investments. It has amassed assets over $260.40 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Small Cap Blend. CSML, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ Chaikin Power US Small Cap Index.

The NASDAQ Chaikin Power US Small Cap Index is a rules-based, quantitative index designed to enhance the NASDAQ US 1500 Index, by selecting stocks with the highest Chaikin Power Gauge rating.

Cost & Other Expenses

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.35% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.34%.

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.

Representing 22.50% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector; Industrials and Healthcare round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Array Technologies Inc (ARRY - Free Report) accounts for about 0.39% of the fund's total assets, followed by H&r Block Inc (HRB - Free Report) and Super Micro Computer Inc (SMCI - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 3.45% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -11.40% and is down about -9.78% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 12/08/2022), respectively. CSML has traded between $28.77 and $37.49 during this last 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 1.22 and standard deviation of 32.05% for the trailing three-year period. With about 498 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Small Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM - Free Report) tracks Russell 2000 Index and the iShares Core S&P SmallCap ETF (IJR - Free Report) tracks S&P SmallCap 600 Index. IShares Russell 2000 ETF has $53.69 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P SmallCap ETF has $67.04 billion. IWM has an expense ratio of 0.19% and IJR charges 0.06%.

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 - Small 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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