Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should You Invest in the Invesco Water Resources ETF (PHO)?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Looking for broad exposure to the Industrials - Water segment of the equity market? You should consider the Invesco Water Resources ETF (PHO - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 12/06/2005.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Water is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 13, placing it in bottom 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $2.11 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Water segment of the equity market. PHO seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ OMX US Water Index before fees and expenses.

The NASDAQ OMX US Water Index tracks the performance of US exchange-listed companies that create products designed to conserve and purify water for homes, businesses and industries.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.59%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.36%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector--about 55.60% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Utilities round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Ecolab Inc (ECL - Free Report) accounts for about 9.32% of total assets, followed by Roper Technologies Inc (ROP - Free Report) and Xylem Inc/ny (XYL - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 59.41% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco Water Resources ETF has lost about -0.55% so far, and it's up approximately 2.48% over the last 12 months (as of 03/19/2025). PHO has traded between $63.04 and $72.14 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1 and standard deviation of 18.71% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 40 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Water Resources ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, PHO is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF (CGW - Free Report) tracks S&P GLOBAL WATER INDEX and the First Trust Water ETF (FIW - Free Report) tracks ISE Clean Edge Water Index. Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF has $904.03 million in assets, First Trust Water ETF has $1.75 billion. CGW has an expense ratio of 0.56% and FIW charges 0.53%.

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.

Published in