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Is Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs category of the market, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 11/01/2006.

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.

Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

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

The fund is managed by Invesco, and has been able to amass over $266.22 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Consumer Staples ETFs. Before fees and expenses, RSPS seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 EQL WEIGHT CONSUMER STAPLES INDX.

The S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples Index equally weights stocks in the consumer staples sector of the S&P 500 Index.

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 0.40%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.49%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.

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

Looking at individual holdings, Philip Morris International Inc (PM - Free Report) accounts for about 3.37% of total assets, followed by Coca-Cola Co/the (KO - Free Report) and Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB - Free Report) .

RSPS's top 10 holdings account for about 29.28% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -0.27% and is down about -6.03% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 03/24/2025), respectively. RSPS has traded between $29.04 and $32.93 during this last 52-week period.

RSPS has a beta of 0.56 and standard deviation of 13.31% for the trailing three-year period. With about 40 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Staples ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP - Free Report) tracks Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF has $7.06 billion in assets, Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF has $16.17 billion. VDC has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLP charges 0.08%.

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