The Gap is Narrowing Between Value and Growth | ETF Trends

The recent technology sell-off is helping to put value-added strategies ahead of more growth-fueled investments that center around tech. As the gap narrows between value and growth, exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors can look to value ETFs to shore up their portfolios.

“The gap between growth and value strategies is wider than during the tech bubble of the late 1990s,” observed Todd Rosenbluth, head of mutual fund and ETF research at CFRA, in a MarketWatch article.

“Investors should be prepared for the likelihood that the gap narrows (a reversion to the mean) and seek out attractive securities within the value style,” the analyst said.

To get value exposure, one ETF option is the Deep Value ETF (NYSE: DVP), which seeks to track the price and total return performance of the Deep Value Index. The index is composed of the common stock of typically 20 companies included in the S&P 500 that have been selected through a proprietary ranking system developed by the fund’s index provider, that evaluates the earnings and cash flows of each company to create a final universe of companies that are deeply undervalued as compared to the S&P 500 overall.

Another option is the Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF Shares (NYSEArca: VTV). VTV seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of large-capitalization value stocks.

One more value-oriented ETF is the American Century STOXX U.S. Quality Value ETF (VALQ). VALQ seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the iSTOXX® American Century USA Quality Value Index (the underlying index). Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the underlying index. The underlying index is designed to select securities of large- and mid-capitalization companies that are undervalued or have a sustainable income.

VALQ Chart

VALQ data by YCharts

An Alternate Way to Play Growth

Of course, just because the gap is narrowing between value and growth doesn’t mean investors should shun growth completely. Rather, they can take a different approach with growth.

Investors looking to capitalize on the latest growth themes could give funds like the Global X Thematic Growth ETF (GXTG) a look. The fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Solactive Thematic Growth Index.

The fund invests at least 80% of its total assets in the securities of the underlying index. The underlying index seeks to provide broad exposure to thematic growth strategies using a portfolio of ETFs.

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