Is SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF (QUS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Launched on 04/15/2015, the SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF (QUS) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the 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.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

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.

The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.55 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the MSCI USA Factor Mix A-Series Index before fees and expenses.

The MSCI USA Factor Mix A-Series Capped Index seeks to measure the equity market performance of large and mid-cap companies across the U.S. equity market.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.44%.

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.

QUS's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 25.1% of the portfolio. Its Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT) accounts for about 3.22% of the fund's total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA).

QUS's top 10 holdings account for about 21.39% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, QUS has added roughly 5.3%, and is up roughly 8.73% in the last one year (as of 07/16/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $140.84 and $164.55.

The fund has a beta of 0.88 and standard deviation of 14.33% for the trailing three-year period, which makes QUS a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 552 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $639.29 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $688.86 billion. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VOO changes 0.03%.

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 Blend

Bottom Line

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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