Among individual investment factors, the value factor has been thumping its growth counterpart when it comes to headlines and returns since the start of last year. Still, investors should not completely ignore exchange traded funds dedicated to growth stocks.
A name to remember is the Guggenheim S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (NYSEArca: RPG). Growth ETFs include heavy tilts toward fast growing consumer cyclical, technology and healthcare stocks.
Cyclical stocks, like materials, industrials, energy and technology companies, are more economically sensitive and do well when the economy is improving. With the Federal Reserve set to hike rates, the rising rate environment would signal a better economic outlook. Technology and consumer discretionary stocks combine for over 53% of RPG’s lineup.
“RPG replicates the S&P Large Cap Pure Growth Index. S&P calculates growth and value scores to each stock in the S&P 500 using three growth metrics (12-month price momentum, three-year change in earnings scaled by price, and three-year sales per share growth) and three value metrics (price to earnings, price to book, and price to sales). All factors are weighted equally. Each stock is ranked by the difference of its growth score to its value score,” according to a Seeking Alpha analysis of RPG.
Industrials and healthcare stocks combine for a quarter of the ETF’s weight. Industrials have been thriving since Election Day in November and are widely believed to be one of the sectors that can thrive if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates this year, as many bond market observers believe will happen.
Weighing on the value outlook, the Federal Reserve may still hike interest rates, and energy companies, commodity producers and other firms dependent on emerging markets are vulnerable to losses if rates rise. Additionally, there is no guarantee that a reflation trade benefiting value stocks will develop, especially with the consumer price index showing tepid increases and overall inflation still stubbornly below the Fed’s 2% target.
“Despite its impressive returns, RPG comes with a catch. Its 10-year standard deviation is 15% higher than the S&P 500 , and 19% higher than the S&P 500 Large Cap Weighed Growth Index ETF . The beta tends to run a little higher as well: 1.09 versus 1,” notes Seeking Alpha.
RPG is up nearly 15% over the past 12 months.
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