The VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) was launched on December 20, 2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market.
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Consumer Discretionary - Retail is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Van Eck. It has amassed assets over $255.22 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market. RTH seeks to match the performance of the MVIS US Listed Retail 25 Index before fees and expenses.
The MVIS US Listed Retail 25 Index tracks the overall performance of companies involved in retail distribution, wholesalers, on-line, direct mail and TV retailers, multi-line retailers, specialty retailers and food and other staples retailers.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.71%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector -- about 58.9% of the portfolio. Consumer Staples and Healthcare round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) accounts for about 20.68% of total assets, followed by Walmart Inc (WMT) and Costco Wholesale Corp (COST).
The top 10 holdings account for about 73.13% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added about 8.59% and it's up approximately 12.1% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/13/2025), respectively. RTH has traded between $208.91 and $253.902 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.89 and standard deviation of 14.74% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 26 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
VanEck Retail ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, RTH is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY) tracks EQM Online Retail Index and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) tracks S&P Retail Select Industry Index. Amplify Online Retail ETF has $151.64 million in assets, SPDR S&P Retail ETF has $305.14 million. IBUY has an expense ratio of 0.65%, and XRT charges 0.35%.
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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VanEck Retail ETF (RTH): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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