Making its debut on 03/21/2012, smart beta exchange traded fund Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares (QQQE) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Direxion. QQQE has been able to amass assets over $1.23 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index.
The NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index consists of companies in the NASDAQ-100 Index but each of the securities is initially set at a weight of 1.00% of the Index. The NASDAQ-100 Index includes 100 of the largest non-financial securities listed on NASDAQ based on capitalization.
Cost & Other Expenses
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.35% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.61%.
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 in the Information Technology sector - about 42.9% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Telecom round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Palantir Technologies Inc-a (PLTR) accounts for about 1.37% of the fund's total assets, followed by Zscaler Inc (ZS) and Axon Enterprise Inc (AXON).
QQQE's top 10 holdings account for about 12.43% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, QQQE has added about 10.13%, and is up about 10.06% in the last one year (as of 07/08/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $76.98 and $99.45.
The fund has a beta of 1.07 and standard deviation of 20.05% for the trailing three-year period, which makes QQQE a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 102 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $175.36 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $352.4 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ changes 0.20%.
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 Growth
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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Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares (QQQE): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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