A sound investment process and strong management team underpin Invesco RAFI™ Strategic US ETF's Morningstar Medalist Rating of Silver. The portfolio maintains a cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's investment process inspires confidence and earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an overweight in liquidity exposure and volatility exposure compared with category peers. High liquidity exposure is attributed to stocks with a high trading volume, lending managers more flexibility. And high volatility exposure is rooted in stocks that have a higher standard deviation of returns. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

Alphabet

Apple

Microsoft

Exxon Mobil

Amazon

Chevron

UnitedHealth Group

Marathon Petroleum

AT&T

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category index on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. Invesco RAFI™ Strategic US ETF earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. 

The primary contributor to the rating is the fund's excellent long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category average, which suggests that the managers have shown skill in their allocation of risk. This fund tracks an index, which also increases its process rating. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, shows that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Lastly, the process is limited by the parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 42%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and outperformed their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. The parent's modest success ratio suggests that the firm could do better across its fund lineup.

 This strategy tends to hold smaller, more growth-oriented companies compared with its average peer in the Large Value Morningstar Category. Looking at additional factor exposure, this strategy has consistently tilted toward companies with relatively higher trading volumes in the last few years. More-liquid assets are easier to buy and sell without adversely moving their prices and tend to provide some ballast during market selloffs. They also are easier to sell to meet redemptions if a host of investors decide to leave the fund in a short period of time. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Liquidity factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. This strategy also has had an overweight bias to the volatility factor over these years, meaning it has owned companies that have a higher historical standard deviation of returns. Such stocks tend to rise faster and fall harder than the broad market. High-volatility exposure contributes to stronger performance during bull markets, but often at the cost of losing more during downturns. Compared with category peers, the strategy also had more exposure to the Volatility factor in the most recent month. In addition, this strategy has favored high-quality stocks compared to peers over the years, which could be a good option for downside risk protection. Such holdings could cause it to trail peers during economic booms, but help it better endure busts. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Quality factor over its peers. More information on a fund and its respective category's factor exposure can be found in the Factor Profile module within the Portfolio section. 

 The portfolio is overweight in technology and communication services relative to the category average by 7.7 and 7.0 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are financial services and utilities, underweight the average by 13.9 and 2.8 percentage points of assets, respectively. The strategy owns 552 securities and its assets are more dispersed than peers in the category. In particular, 23.5% of the portfolio's assets are concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, as opposed to the category average's 27.4%. And finally, in terms of portfolio turnover, looking at year-over-year movements, 13% of the fund's holdings have turned over, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Above Average

Process

Invesco RAFI™ Strategic US ETF benefits considerably from its team, earning it an Above Average People Pillar rating. There are four managers listed on the fund: Michael Jeanette, Peter Hubbard, Tony Seisser, Pratik Doshi. Experience on the team is abundant, with 12 years of average portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 144 strategies, with solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Bronze asset-weighted Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating a position to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate. This group has been working together for a while and has been successful in retaining talent compared to peers, with no departures in the last five years.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

People

Invesco succeeds in a number of areas but also has its share of subpar offerings, along with many others that land somewhere in the middle. A mid-2023 change of CEO, from longtime chief Marty Flanagan to veteran Invesco executive Andrew Schlossberg, is noteworthy, and several other executives retired or departed in 2023. Portfolio-manager shuffles aimed at bolstering poor performers, which began under Flanagan, have continued under Schlossberg, who told Morningstar his most important aim is bolstering “investment quality.” However, major changes of direction or approach are unlikely. The firm retains a Morningstar Parent rating of Average. 
Invesco’s international-equity teams in Texas and New York remain solid. However, the extensive U.S.-equity lineup needs improvement. Fixed-income offerings run the gamut: The multisector and short-term-bond areas are good, but corporate high-yield is less impressive. The firm’s exchange-traded fund lineup includes the popular Nasdaq-focused QQQ; passive strategies make up around 37% of Invesco’s assets under management. Invesco has not been averse to trying new types of strategies, and it was among the firms that immediately launched a spot bitcoin ETF after SEC approval in early 2024.
The picture outside the United States is mixed. Fund performance has been subpar in Asia, and while the picture has brightened in the United Kingdom and Europe, that region still can’t be considered a strength.

Average

Parent

Invesco RAFI Strategic US ETF

IUS tracks an index of stocks from large US firms. The index determines firm size by fundamental metrics and also screens by quality metrics. Stocks are weighted by firm size.

Invesco RAFI™ Strategic US ETF combines a fundamental score of company size and a quality score. The IUS ETF is better balanced than the S&P 500 index and has much cheaper valuation ratios without sacrificing earnings growth. IUS beats the benchmark and a number of large-cap value funds since its inception and has a compelling dividend growth rate.

IUS: A Superior Large-Cap Value ETF

Smart Beta ETFs use alternative index construction rules to improve returns and manage risks. Invesco RAFI Strategic US ETF (IUS) is a smart-beta ETF that focuses on high-quality, large-sized US companies. IUS has outperformed its peers since its inception in 2018, but investors should be aware of sector-specific risks.

IUS: A Good Core Equity Replacement

Invesco RAFI Strategic US ETF (IUS) has outperformed PRF and iShares Russell 1000 ETF (IWB) since its inception in 2018. IUS has a quality tilt and is more tilted towards large caps and growth compared to PRF.

IUS: PRF's Higher Quality Brother

Value stocks are performing in-line with growth rivals and the broader market to start 2023, but as the year unfolds, less expensive names could separate themselves from the pack. It's a scenario plenty of market participants are betting, if it comes to life, would extend value's run over growth.

Investigate IUS as Play on Value Strength

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