The iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW) was launched on 05/22/2000, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $33.61 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Large Cap Growth
Large cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. They tend to be stable companies with predictable cash flows and are usually less volatile than mid and small cap companies.
While growth stocks do boast higher than average sales and earnings growth rates, and they are expected to grow faster than the wider market, investors should note these kinds of stocks have higher valuations. Additionally, growth stocks have a greater level of risk associated with them. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.
Costs
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.18%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.54%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund’s holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector–about 43.60% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Telecom round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT) accounts for about 11.55% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Amazon Com Inc (AMZN).
The top 10 holdings account for about 49.68% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
IVW seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 500 Growth Index measures the performance of the large capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market.
The ETF has lost about -15.23% so far this year and it’s up approximately 10.82% in the last one year (as of 02/23/2022). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $61.43 and $84.81.
The ETF has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 23.79% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 246 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
IShares S&P 500 Growth 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, IVW is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box – Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) track a similar index. While Vanguard Growth ETF has $76.26 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $178.12 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ charges 0.20%.
Bottom-Line
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.
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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