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Is John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF (JHML) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF (JHML - Free Report) debuted on 09/28/2015, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

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.

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.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

JHML is managed by John Hancock, and this fund has amassed over $836.20 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. JHML seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index before fees and expenses.

The John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are larger than that of the 801st 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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.29% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.34%.

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 JHML, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 24.80% of the portfolio --while Financials and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) accounts for about 4.52% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN - Free Report) .

JHML's top 10 holdings account for about 19.11% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, JHML has added roughly 4.17%, and is up about 18.50% in the last one year (as of 02/13/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $49.01 and $61.26.

JHML has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 16.96% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 781 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

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

IShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV - Free Report) tracks S&P 500 Index and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY - Free Report) tracks S&P 500 Index. IShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $435.52 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $486.12 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

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 - Large 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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