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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Utilities ETF (RSPU) 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 Utilities ETF (RSPU - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs 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.

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.

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

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $356.63 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs. RSPU, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the SP 500 EQUAL WEIGHT TELECM-UTILITY INDEX.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Telecommunication Services & Utilities Index equally weights stocks found in the utilities and telecommunication services sectors of the S&P 500 Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.40%.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.54%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

RSPU's heaviest allocation is in the Utilities sector, which is about 100% of the portfolio.

Taking into account individual holdings, Constellation Energy Corp (CEG - Free Report) accounts for about 3.69% of the fund's total assets, followed by American Water Works Co Inc (AWK - Free Report) and Southern Co/the (SO - Free Report) .

RSPU's top 10 holdings account for about 35.02% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Utilities ETF has lost about -2.09% so far, and was up about 0% over the last 12 months (as of 06/29/2023). RSPU has traded between $109.06 and $113.03 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.56. With about 30 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

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

Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Utilities 25/50 Index and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU - Free Report) tracks Utilities Select Sector Index. Vanguard Utilities ETF has $5.10 billion in assets, Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF has $15.40 billion. VPU has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLU 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 Utilities/Infrastructure 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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