Looking for broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market? You should consider the iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on July 24, 2000.
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $9.88 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Mid Cap Growth
Compared to large and small cap companies, mid cap businesses tend to have higher growth prospects and are less volatile, respectively, with market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.
Qualities of growth stocks include faster growth rates compared to the broader market, as well as higher valuations and higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility 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
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 0.17%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.6%.
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 to the Industrials sector -- about 30.9% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Lumentum Holdings Inc (LITE) accounts for about 2.3% of total assets, followed by Coherent Corp (COHR) and Caseys General Stores Inc (CASY).
The top 10 holdings account for about 11.3% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
IJK seeks to match the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index measures the performance of the mid-capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market.
The ETF return is roughly 10% so far this year and was up about 16.14% in the last one year (as of 02/23/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $73.70 and $106.57.
The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 18.25% 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 Mid-Cap 400 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, IJK is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF (VOT) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $17.80 billion in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $19.89 billion. VOT has an expense ratio of 0.05% and IWP charges 0.23%.
Bottom-Line
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.
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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iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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