Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market, the iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF (EUSA) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 05/05/2010.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Blackrock (NYSE:BLK), and has been able to amass over $282.15 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the MSCI USA Equal Weighted Index.
The MSCI USA Equal Weighted Index represents the MSCI USA Index, measures the performance of equity securities in the top 85% by market capitalization of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in the United States.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for EUSA are 0.15%, which makes it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.46%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For EUSA, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 18.60% of the portfolio --while Financials and Industrials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW) accounts for about 0.39% of total assets, followed by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Snap Inc Class A (SNAP).
The top 10 holdings account for about 2.79% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 13.28% so far this year and is up about 15.30% in the last one year (as of 12/17/2020). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $40.33 and $71.42.
EUSA has a beta of 1.14 and standard deviation of 23.82% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 623 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
IShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $31.59 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $194.22 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - All Cap Blend.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF (EUSA): ETF Research Reports
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW): Free Stock Analysis Report
Morgan Stanley (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI): ETF Research Reports
iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT): ETF Research Reports
Snap Inc. (SNAP): Free Stock Analysis Report
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