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Should You Invest in the Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR)?

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The Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR - Free Report) was launched on 01/26/2004, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - 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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Consumer Discretionary - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $5.86 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market. VCR seeks to match the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index before fees and expenses.

The MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index is designed to transition in and out of securities affected by pending updates to the consumer discretionary sector.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.10%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.80%.

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 Consumer Discretionary sector--about 99.90% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN - Free Report) accounts for about 22.13% of total assets, followed by Tesla Inc (TSLA - Free Report) and Home Depot Inc/the (HD - Free Report) .

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 12.06% so far this year and it's up approximately 35.96% in the last one year (as of 10/28/2024). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $253.43 and $341.94.

The ETF has a beta of 1.30 and standard deviation of 25.16% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 305 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary 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, VCR is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

IShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY - Free Report) tracks Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index. IShares U.S. Home Construction ETF has $3.45 billion in assets, Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF has $20.05 billion. ITB has an expense ratio of 0.39% and XLY 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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