Should iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF) Be on Your Investing Radar?

If you're interested in broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, look no further than the iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 10/23/2000.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $16.50 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Companies that fall in the large cap category tend to have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Overall, they are usually a stable option, with less risk and more sure-fire cash flows than mid and small cap companies.

Typically holding a combination of both growth and value stocks, blend ETFs also demonstrate qualities seen in value and growth investments.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.20%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.05%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 36.50% of the portfolio. Financials and Telecom round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL) accounts for about 10.01% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA).

The top 10 holdings account for about 47.88% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

OEF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 100 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 100 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market. It is a subset of the S&P 500 and consists of blue chip stocks from diverse industries in the S&P 500 with exchange listed options & the Index represented approximately 45% of the market capitalization of listed U.S. equities.

The ETF has lost about -7.05% so far this year and is up about 13.59% in the last one year (as of 04/28/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $237.48 and $300.35.

The ETF has a beta of 1 and standard deviation of 19.25% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 105 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares S&P 100 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, OEF is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) track a similar index. While SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $574.67 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $580.87 billion. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VOO charges 0.03%.

Bottom-Line

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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

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