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Is Invesco Global Water ETF (PIO) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Global Water ETF (PIO - Free Report) was launched on 06/13/2007, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Industrials ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $259.37 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Industrials ETFs. PIO seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ OMX Global Water Index before fees and expenses.

The NASDAQ OMX Global Water Index is designed to track the performance of companies worldwide that are creating products that conserve and purify water for homes, businesses and industries.

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.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.75%, making it one of the most expensive products in the space.

PIO's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.90%.

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.

Taking into account individual holdings, Roper Technologies Inc (ROP - Free Report) accounts for about 8.67% of the fund's total assets, followed by Pentair Plc (PNR - Free Report) and Danaher Corp (DHR - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 55.3% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 9.61% so far this year and was up about 8.60% in the last one year (as of 11/21/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $31.37 and $37.04.

The fund has a beta of 0.97 and standard deviation of 18.21% for the trailing three-year period, which makes PIO a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 46 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Global Water ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

First Trust Water ETF (FIW - Free Report) tracks ISE Clean Edge Water Index and the Invesco Water Resources ETF (PHO - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ OMX US Water Index. First Trust Water ETF has $1.38 billion in assets, Invesco Water Resources ETF has $1.80 billion. FIW has an expense ratio of 0.53% and PHO charges 0.60%.

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