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Is Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG - Free Report) made its debut on 03/01/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth 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.

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.

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.

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

RPG is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $1.55 billion, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. Before fees and expenses, RPG seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Pure Growth Index.

The S&P 500 Pure Growth Index measures the performance of securities that exhibit strong growth characteristics in the S&P 500 Index.

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.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.35%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.60%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Representing 38.60% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Consumer Discretionary and Industrials round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) accounts for about 5.65% of the fund's total assets, followed by Arista Networks Inc (ANET - Free Report) and Monolithic Power Systems Inc (MPWR - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 28.44% of RPG's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 12.17% and is up roughly 15.18% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 07/29/2024), respectively. RPG has traded between $29.02 and $38.88 during this last 52-week period.

RPG has a beta of 1.12 and standard deviation of 23.11% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 64 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $129.38 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $279.71 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.

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 Growth.

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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