In a sign of just how apprehensive some investors currently are about taking risk at the sector level, consumer staples have consistently been dotting the list of exchange traded funds hitting all-time highs.
That was the case late last week and it was the case again Monday as four of the nine ETFs hitting new highs were consumer staples funds. That quartet included the Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEArca: RHS), the equal-weight answer to the popular Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLP).
RHS, which debuted in 2006 eschews single-stock and strong dollar risk with significantly reduced weights to household products dividend darlings like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB). RHS has some other advantages, too.
RHS is an ETF to remember because it is home to several rumored takeover targets, including Monster Beverage (NasdaqGS: MNST) and Keurig Green Mountain (NasdaqGS: GMCR). To a lesser extent Mondelez (NasdaqGS: MDLZ) and Hershey (NYSE: HSY) also have takeover potential. [An ETF for Staples M&A]
The $301.5 million RHS has received some accolades over its lifetime, including a prestigious four-star rating from Morningstar. The fund was rated, based on its risk-adjusted returns, 5 stars for 3 years, 4 stars for 5 years, and 4 stars Overall out of 11, 10, and 11 Consumer Defensive funds, respectively, according to Guggenheim.