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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (IYK)?

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The iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (IYK - Free Report) was launched on 06/12/2000, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market.

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.

Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Consumer Staples - Broad 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 Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.26 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market. IYK seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Index before fees and expenses.

The Russell 1000 Consumer Staples RIC 22.5/45 Capped Index measures the performance of the consumer goods sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.59%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Staples sector--about 89.80% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Materials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Procter & Gamble (PG - Free Report) accounts for about 16.97% of total assets, followed by Pepsico Inc (PEP - Free Report) and Coca-Cola (KO - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 65.63% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 6.42% so far this year and it's up approximately 2.36% in the last one year (as of 05/21/2024). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $59.57 and $68.43.

The ETF has a beta of 0.72 and standard deviation of 12.93% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 59 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. IYK, then, is not the best option for investors seeking exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP - Free Report) tracks Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF has $6.71 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $15.38 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLP charges 0.09%.

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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