Should SPDR Portfolio S&P 400 Mid Cap ETF (SPMD) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Looking for broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market? You should consider the SPDR Portfolio S&P 400 Mid Cap ETF (SPMD), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 11/08/2005.

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $12.51 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Blend

With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

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

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 0.03%, making it the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.51%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. 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 22.30% of the portfolio. Financials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Emcor Group Inc (EME) accounts for about 0.73% of total assets, followed by Interactive Brokers Gro Cl A (IBKR) and Okta Inc (OKTA).

The top 10 holdings account for about 6.65% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

SPMD seeks to match the performance of the S&P 1000 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P MidCap 400 Index combines the S&P MidCap 400 and the S&P SmallCap 600 to form an investable benchmark for the mid to small cap segment of the U.S. equity market.

The ETF has lost about -3.82% so far this year and is up roughly 0.53% in the last one year (as of 05/22/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $44.89 and $59.56.

The ETF has a beta of 1.06 and standard deviation of 20.36% for the trailing three-year period. With about 405 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR Portfolio S&P 400 Mid Cap 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, SPMD is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO) and the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF has $78.66 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $91.67 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.

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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