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Is Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF (NULG) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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The Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF (NULG - Free Report) made its debut on 12/13/2016, 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?
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.
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.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
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 Nuveen. It has amassed assets over $1.47 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses.
The TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Growth Index is comprised of equity securities of large capitalization companies listed on US exchanges & meet ESG criteria & exhibit overall growth style characteristics based on long-term forward EPS growth rate, short-term forward EPS growth rate, current internal growth rate, long-term historical EPS growth trend & long-term historical sales per share growth trend.
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.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.26%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.37%.
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 Information Technology sector - about 39.40% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) accounts for about 13.32% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) and Alphabet Inc - Class A (GOOGL - Free Report) .
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 54% of NULG's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 16.37% and was up about 26.80% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/03/2024), respectively. NULG has traded between $57.41 and $84.20 during this last 52-week period.
NULG has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 22.36% for the trailing three-year period. With about 64 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU - Free Report) tracks MSCI USA ESG Focus Index and the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ - Free Report) tracks ----------------------------------------. IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF has $12.93 billion in assets, JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF has $15.90 billion. ESGU has an expense ratio of 0.15% and JEPQ charges 0.35%.
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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Is Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF (NULG) a Strong ETF Right Now?
The Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF (NULG - Free Report) made its debut on 12/13/2016, 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?
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.
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.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
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 Nuveen. It has amassed assets over $1.47 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses.
The TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Growth Index is comprised of equity securities of large capitalization companies listed on US exchanges & meet ESG criteria & exhibit overall growth style characteristics based on long-term forward EPS growth rate, short-term forward EPS growth rate, current internal growth rate, long-term historical EPS growth trend & long-term historical sales per share growth trend.
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.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.26%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.37%.
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 Information Technology sector - about 39.40% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Healthcare round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) accounts for about 13.32% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp (NVDA - Free Report) and Alphabet Inc - Class A (GOOGL - Free Report) .
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 54% of NULG's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 16.37% and was up about 26.80% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/03/2024), respectively. NULG has traded between $57.41 and $84.20 during this last 52-week period.
NULG has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 22.36% for the trailing three-year period. With about 64 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Growth ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU - Free Report) tracks MSCI USA ESG Focus Index and the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ - Free Report) tracks ----------------------------------------. IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF has $12.93 billion in assets, JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF has $15.90 billion. ESGU has an expense ratio of 0.15% and JEPQ charges 0.35%.
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.