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Is Invesco Equal Weight 0-30 Year Treasury ETF (GOVI) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Equal Weight 0-30 Year Treasury ETF (GOVI - Free Report) was launched on 10/11/2007, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Government Bond ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

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.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $1.18 billion, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Government Bond ETFs. GOVI is managed by Invesco. Before fees and expenses, GOVI seeks to match the performance of the ICE 1-30 YR LADDERED MATURITY US TRSR ID.

The ICE 1-30 Year Laddered Maturity US Treasury Index is designed to track the performance of up to 30 U.S. Treasury Notes or Bonds representing the annual February maturity ladder across the yield curve.

Cost & Other Expenses

For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.

GOVI's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 3.53%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, United States Treasury Note/bond-3.12%-02-15-2042 (912810QU5) accounts for about 3.40% of total assets, followed by United States Treasury Note/bond-3.12%-02-15-2043 (912810QZ4) and United States Treasury Note/bond-1.50%-02-15-2030 (912828Z94).

The top 10 holdings account for about 33.89% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco Equal Weight 0-30 Year Treasury ETF has lost about -1.54% so far, and was up about 8.73% over the last 12 months (as of 11/04/2024). GOVI has traded between $26.59 and $29.71 in this past 52-week period.

GOVI has a beta of 0.18 and standard deviation of 9.83% for the trailing three-year period. With about 30 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Equal Weight 0-30 Year Treasury ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Government Bond ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF (VGLT - Free Report) tracks Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Long Government Float Adjusted Index and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT - Free Report) tracks ICE U.S. Treasury 20+ Year Bond Index. Vanguard Long-Term Treasury ETF has $13.76 billion in assets, iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF has $58.84 billion. VGLT has an expense ratio of 0.04% and TLT charges 0.15%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Government Bond ETFs.

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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