After another strong year for growth stocks and related exchange traded funds, some may be shifting their investment portfolios toward more inexpensive value plays. However, it may be too soon to ditch your growth stock exposure.
Year-to-date, the S&P 500 growth stocks ETFs, including iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEArca: IVW), Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEArca: VOOG) and SPDR S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEArca: SPYG), returned 6.1%.
Meanwhile, the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (NYSEArca: IWD), which tracks value stocks taken from the large-cap Russell 1000 Index, fell 2.8% year-to-date. The Vanguard Value ETF (NYSEArca: VTV), which tracks the CRSP US Large Cap Value Index, was up 0.3%. The iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (NYSEArca: IVE), which includes value names taken from the S&P 500, dipped 2.0%.
Some big names, including strategists at Bank of America, JPMorgan, Barclays and PIMCO, are now looking for inexpensive stocks to outperform next year as value stocks are expected to do better in an environment of firming economic growth and rising rates, reports Luke Kawa for Bloomberg.
Value stocks typically trade at cheaper prices relative to fundamental measures of value, such as earnings and the book value of assets. In contrast, growth stocks tend to run at higher valuations since investors expect the rapid growth in those company measures.
However, HSBC argues that investors should hold off on a style rotation.
“2016 will be a ‘more of the same year’ as non-cyclical growth and momentum will be the key alpha strategies again,” analyst Volker Borghorr said in a research note. “The world has not really changed with regard to style investing in the last three years and we doubt that 2016 will deliver a big swing.”