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Is John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 09/28/2015, smart beta exchange traded fund John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

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.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $2.76 billion, this makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend. JHMM is managed by John Hancock. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index.

The John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are between the 200th and 951st largest U.S. company.

Cost & Other Expenses

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

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.41%.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.18%.

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.

For JHMM, it has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector --about 17.70% of the portfolio --while Information Technology and Financials round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Nucor Corp (NUE - Free Report) accounts for about 0.60% of the fund's total assets, followed by Parker Hannifin Corp (PH - Free Report) and United Rentals Inc (URI - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 4.86% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -2.02% so far this year and is down about -8% in the last one year (as of 03/16/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $42.60 and $53.87.

JHMM has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 25.58% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 652 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Mid Cap Index and the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH - Free Report) tracks S&P MidCap 400 Index. Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF has $49.83 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $63.76 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.

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 - Mid 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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