If you don't have a stock in your portfolio that has gotten crushed in the past few months, you're probably in the minority. Most of us have seen the value of our portfolios drop recently, and it's nothing to get too concerned about if you have done your research, have stocks in your portfolio you believe in, and have a long-term investing mindset.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't diversify to make sure you have investments that perform differently in a given market cycle. If you have been burned by the stock market and want to diversify, try these two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) instead.
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1. Invesco S&P 500 Pure Value ETF
A well-diversified portfolio should include value stocks, as they tend to perform well when growth stocks don't. This is particularly true coming out of recessions or in times of rising interest rates. Over the past year, value stocks have outperformed growth, among both large-cap stocks and the broader market.
One of the best value ETFs on the market is the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Value ETF (RPV +0.19%). This ETF tracks the S&P 500 Pure Value Index, which invests in value stocks within the S&P 500. It determines value stocks by looking at three metrics -- book value-to-price ratio, earnings-to-price ratio, and sales-to-price ratio. The stocks that score the highest in value characteristics are included in the portfolio. So, these are considered deep value stocks, filtering out those that might be considered blends. The stocks are then weighted so the deepest value stocks receive proportionally greater weights.
Currently, 32.5% of the portfolio is in financials, 11.5% is in healthcare, 89.6% is in consumer staples, and 8% is in energy, while communication services, consumer discretionary, and materials make up 7% each. The five largest holdings are Berkshire Hathaway, Prudential, MetLife, Cigna, and Lincoln National. It incorporates a total of 123 stocks.
The ETF is down about 2.2% year to date, which is a nice hedge against the broader market, as the S&P 500 is down 12.5% year to date as of Feb. 24. Over the past year, the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Value ETF is up 9.5% while the S&P 500 is up 6.25% over the same period.
This ETF has been around since 2006 and has a five-year annualized return of 9.7% and a 10-year annualized return of 13% through Jan. 31.
2. First Trust Nasdaq Bank ETF
The First Trust Nasdaq Bank ETF (FTXO 1.11%) tracks the Nasdaq US Smart Banks Index, which includes the 30 most liquid banks from the Nasdaq US Benchmark Index. Liquidity is crucial for banks. The more liquidity they have, the better they are able to meet their funding needs, particularly during tough times, so it's a great sign of stability for a bank.
The 30 most liquid banks are then weighted based on their scores on three factors: Volatility, as measured by trailing-12-month price fluctuation; value, as measured by cash flow to price; and growth, gauging their three-, six-, nine-, and 12-month average price appreciation. The weighting includes caps to prevent high concentrations among single stocks.
The top five holdings are Popular (8.7%), Citizens Financial (8.4%), Regions Financial (7.9%), Citigroup (7.6%), and JPMorgan Chase (7.1%).
The ETF is down about 1.5% year to date, far better than the Nasdaq Composite, which is down about 17% year to date as of Feb. 24. The First Trust Nasdaq Bank ETF is up about 2.2% over the past one-year period through Feb. 24, while the Nasdaq Composite is down 4.5% over that period.
The fund has only been around since 2016, but it has a five-year return of 8% through Jan. 31, and a 12.9% return since inception.
Neither one of these ETFs is going to shoot the lights out like some of those growth funds in your portfolio, but they produce solid returns and, more importantly, they will provide you with positive returns (or far less negative returns) when growth stocks are beaten down.
