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Should You Invest in the Invesco Water Resources ETF (PHO)?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Industrials - Water segment of the equity market, look no further than the Invesco Water Resources ETF (PHO - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 12/06/2005.

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Water is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 6, placing it in top 38%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $1.94 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Water segment of the equity market. PHO seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ OMX US Water Index before fees and expenses.

The NASDAQ OMX US Water Index tracks the performance of US exchange-listed companies that create products designed to conserve and purify water for homes, businesses and industries.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.60%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.60%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector--about 57.70% of the portfolio. Utilities and Information Technology round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Ferguson Plc (FERG - Free Report) accounts for about 8.83% of total assets, followed by Roper Technologies Inc (ROP - Free Report) and Ecolab Inc (ECL - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 59.80% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco Water Resources ETF has lost about -0.79% so far, and is up about 17.85% over the last 12 months (as of 01/03/2024). PHO has traded between $49.77 and $61.28 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 19.43% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 40 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Water Resources ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, PHO is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF (CGW - Free Report) tracks S&P GLOBAL WATER INDEX and the First Trust Water ETF (FIW - Free Report) tracks ISE Clean Edge Water Index. Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF has $945.84 million in assets, First Trust Water ETF has $1.50 billion. CGW has an expense ratio of 0.57% and FIW charges 0.53%.

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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