Is Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL) a Strong ETF Right Now?

A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL) debuted on 12/01/2006, and offers 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.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

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.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $2.07 billion, this makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. EQWL is managed by Invesco. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Russell Top 200 Equal Weight Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P 100 Equal Weight Index is designed to provide equal-weighted exposure to the securities of the largest 200 companies in the US equity market.

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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.25% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.63%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector - about 17.6% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Boeing Co/the (BA) accounts for about 1.15% of the fund's total assets, followed by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) and General Electric Co (GE).

The top 10 holdings account for about 10.99% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF return is roughly 2.31% so far, and was up about 16.52% over the last 12 months (as of 01/23/2026). EQWL has traded between $91.62 $120.89 in this past 52-week period.

EQWL has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 13.11% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 104 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight 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.

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $761.95 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $847 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% 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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