Through several periods of increased market volatility this year, particularly those that have fostered repudiation of growth and momentum stocks, value stocks and exchange traded funds have been popular destinations for investors.
That much is proven by the $2.6 billion in assets added by the Vanguard Value ETF (NYSEArca: VTV). Or the $1.3 billion added by the iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (NYSEArca: IVE). Or the $331.4 million of inflows to the Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value ETF (NYSEArca: SCHV). [Don’t Forget These Value ETFs]
The iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (NYSEArca: IWD) deserves its place in value ETF conversation as the $23.9 billion fund has added $1.7 billion in new assets this year. Although U.S. stocks have recently rebounded from their late September/early October doldrums, if volatility remains elevated, value ETFs such as IWD are likely to remain in style.
“While S&P Capital IQ believes the U.S. equity markets will move higher over the next 12 months, we expect recent volatility to persist, making a large-cap value ETF particularly appealing. The Russell 1000 Value index tracks the stocks within the broader large-cap index with lower price-to-book ratios, but also lower forecasted growth values. The index is reconstituted on an annual basis, in May, and that results in constituent and weighting changes. At the end of September 2014, the market-cap weighted index had a weighted average market capitalization of $112 billion, but a median market cap of just $6.8 billion,” said S&P Capital IQ in a new research note.
IWD, which S&P Capital IQ rates overweight, is the research firm’s focus ETF for the month of November. The ETF charges 0.2% per year and its three-year standard deviation of almost 11% is only modestly higher than the S&P 500’s standard deviation over the same period.
“From a sector perspective, IWD index had significant tilts relative to the broader Russell 1000 index, as tracked by iShares Russell 1000 (IWB 109 Overweight). Financials (29% vs. 17%) and energy (13% vs. 9%) were the biggest overweights, while information technology (9% vs 18%) and consumer discretionary (6% vs. 12%) were the biggest underweights,” according to S&P Capital IQ.
The numbers indicate there is a value proposition with financial services stocks as the sector, the second-largest in the S&P 500 behind tech, trades at a discount to the benchmark U.S. index. However, investors have recently show little favor for value with bank stocks as major financial services ETFs have been riddled with substantial outflows. [Fleeing Bank ETFs]