Consequently, if volatility spikes, Koesterich warned that the momentum stocks that have recently experienced strong price gains will be at risk.
Alternatively, the strategists believes that the outperformance may revert in favor of other factors like quality. Consequently, investors can turn to ETFs that track quality names in times of stress, such as the iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (NYSEArca: QUAL), Direxion Value Line Conservative Equity ETF (NYSEArca: VLLV) and PowerShares S&P 500 High Quality Portfolio (NYSEArca: SPHQ).
QUAL selects U.S. large- and mid-cap stocks based on fundamental variables, including return on equity, earnings variability and debt-to-equity.
VLLV focuses on U.S. stocks ranked based on Value Line’s proprietary Safety Rank, which measures total risk of a stock and its defensive capability during an overall equity market downturn relative to other stocks. [Dividend, Low-Vol ETFs That Tap Into Value Line Research]
SPHQ tracks the S&P 500 High Quality Rankings Index, which provides exposure to the constituents of the S&P 500 Index that are identified as stocks reflecting long-term growth and stability of a company’s earnings and dividends.
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Max Chen contributed to this article.