Value stocks usually trade at lower prices relative to fundamental measures of value, like earnings and the book value of assets. On the other hand, growth-oriented stocks tend to run at higher valuations since investors expect the rapid growth in those company measures, but more are growing wary of high valuations.
For example, the iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (CBOE: VLUE) has recently become a popular avenue for accessing value stocks while the Vanguard Value ETF (NYSEArca: VTV) is one of the largest smart beta ETFs of any stripe. In fact, several of the largest smart beta ETFs are value funds.
VLUE seeks to track the performance of an index that measures the performance of U.S. large- and mid-capitalization stocks with value characteristics and relatively lower valuations.
VTV follows the CRSP US Large Cap Value Index and is one of the most widely followed value ETFs. CRSP includes sales/price and historical earnings/price ratio as well as 12-month forward earnings/price ratio and dividend yield to form its value indexes.
The iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (NYSEArca: IWD) is the biggest U.S. large-cap ETF on the market, providing exposure to value stocks taken from the widely observed Russell 1000 Index.