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Should iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, look no further than the iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 07/24/2000.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $9.58 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Small Cap Growth

With more potential comes more risk, and small cap companies, with market capitalization below $2 billion, epitomizes this way of thinking.

Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Additionally, growth stocks have a greater level of risk associated with them. Even though growth stocks are more likely to outperform their value counterparts in strong bull markets, value stocks have a record of delivering better returns in almost all markets than growth stocks.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.23%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.67%.

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 to the Healthcare sector--about 21.60% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Halozyme Therapeutics Inc (HALO - Free Report) accounts for about 0.64% of total assets, followed by Inspire Medical Systems Inc (INSP - Free Report) and Emcor Group Inc (EME - Free Report) .

Performance and Risk

IWO seeks to match the performance of the Russell 2000 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The Russell 2000 Growth Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market. It is a subset of the Russell 2000 Index, which measures the performance of the small-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market & approximately 51% of the total market value of the Russell 2000 Index.

The ETF has added roughly 8.54% so far this year and is down about -1.47% in the last one year (as of 03/08/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $194.20 and $264.27.

The ETF has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 32.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 1111 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IWO is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF (IJT - Free Report) and the Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF (VBK - Free Report) track a similar index. While iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF has $5.23 billion in assets, Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF has $13.35 billion. IJT has an expense ratio of 0.18% and VBK charges 0.07%.

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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