The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RSPF) made its debut on 11/01/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Financials ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide 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.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Invesco, RSPF has amassed assets over $291.72 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Financials ETFs. RSPF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 EQUAL WEIGHT FINANCIALS INDEX before fees and expenses.
The S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials Index equally weights stocks in the financial 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.
Annual operating expenses for RSPF are 0.40%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.91%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For RSPF, it has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector --about 100% of the portfolio.
When you look at individual holdings, Globe Life Inc (GL) accounts for about 1.67% of the fund's total assets, followed by Arthur J Gallagher & Co (AJG) and Progressive Corp/the (PGR).
The top 10 holdings account for about 15.75% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -5.16% so far this year and is up roughly 9.62% in the last one year (as of 04/10/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $59.51 and $78.05.
The ETF has a beta of 0.95 and standard deviation of 17.26% for the trailing three-year period. With about 74 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Financials ETFs segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
Vanguard Financials ETF (VFH) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Financials 25/50 Index and the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) tracks Financial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Financials ETF has $11.40 billion in assets, Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $48.37 billion. VFH has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLF 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 Financials 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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Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Financials ETF (RSPF): ETF Research Reports The Progressive Corporation (PGR): Free Stock Analysis Report Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG): Free Stock Analysis Report Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF): ETF Research Reports Vanguard Financials ETF (VFH): ETF Research Reports Globe Life Inc. (GL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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