Should iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 10/23/2000.

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $14.88 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Companies that find themselves in the large cap category typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Overall, they are usually a stable option, with less risk and more sure-fire cash flows than mid and small cap companies.

Blend ETFs usually hold a mix of growth and value stocks as well as stocks that exhibit both value and growth characteristics.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.20%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.01%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 38.70% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL) accounts for about 10.20% of total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp (NVDA) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT).

The top 10 holdings account for about 50.19% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

OEF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 100 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 100 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market. It is a subset of the S&P 500 and consists of blue chip stocks from diverse industries in the S&P 500 with exchange listed options & the Index represented approximately 45% of the market capitalization of listed U.S. equities.

The ETF has gained about 32.75% so far this year and is up about 33.21% in the last one year (as of 12/24/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $219.81 and $298.10.

The ETF has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 18.08% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 105 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares S&P 100 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, OEF is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) track a similar index. While iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $587.75 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $626.40 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

Bottom-Line

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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 S&P 100 ETF (OEF): ETF Research Reports

Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report

NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV): ETF Research Reports

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Zacks Investment Research

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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