Is Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Making its debut on 03/01/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.
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.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination 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
Because the fund has amassed over $2.33 billion, this makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. RPG is managed by Invesco. Before fees and expenses, RPG seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Pure Growth Index.
The S&P 500 Pure Growth Index measures the performance of securities that exhibit strong growth characteristics in the S&P 500 Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
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.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.35% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.45%.
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.
For RPG, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 37.60% of the portfolio --while Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
When you look at individual holdings, Enphase Energy Inc (ENPH) accounts for about 4.04% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nrg Energy Inc (NRG) and Devon Energy Corp (DVN).
RPG's top 10 holdings account for about 26.99% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF has lost about -23.05% so far, and is down about -21.53% over the last 12 months (as of 12/06/2022). RPG has traded between $141.64 and $214.36 in this past 52-week period.
RPG has a beta of 1.14 and standard deviation of 30.75% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 59 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $71.57 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $161.08 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Growth.
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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Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (RPG): ETF Research Reports
NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Devon Energy Corporation (DVN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Invesco QQQ (QQQ): ETF Research Reports
Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG): ETF Research Reports
