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Should You Invest in the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Utilities ETF (RSPU)?

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Launched on 11/01/2006, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Utilities ETF (RSPU - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Utilities - Broad segment of the equity market.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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. Utilities - 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 Invesco. It has amassed assets over $310.97 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Utilities - Broad segment of the equity market. RSPU seeks to match the performance of the SP 500 EQUAL WEIGHT TELECM-UTILITY INDEX before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Telecommunication Services & Utilities Index equally weights stocks found in the utilities and telecommunication services sectors of the S&P 500 Index.

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 one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.51%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Utilities sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Ameren Corp (AEE - Free Report) accounts for about 3.54% of total assets, followed by Wec Energy Group Inc (WEC - Free Report) and American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 34.40% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 19.72% so far this year and was up about 26.39% in the last one year (as of 09/09/2024). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $48.19 and $65.41.

The ETF has a beta of 0.63 and standard deviation of 17.72% for the trailing three-year period. With about 33 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Utilities 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, RSPU is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Utilities 25/50 Index and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU - Free Report) tracks Utilities Select Sector Index. Vanguard Utilities ETF has $6.32 billion in assets, Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF has $17.19 billion. VPU has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLU 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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