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Looking for broad exposure to the Small Cap Blend segment of the US equity market? You should consider the Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF (SCHA), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 11/03/2009.
The fund is sponsored by Charles Schwab. It has amassed assets over $14.44 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.
Why Small Cap Blend
Sitting at a market capitalization below $2 billion, small cap companies tend to be high-potential stocks compared to its large and mid cap counterparts, but come with higher risk.
Blend ETFs are aptly named, since they tend to hold a mix of growth and value stocks, as well as show characteristics of both kinds of equities.
Costs
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.04%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.55%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Industrials sector--about 19.20% of the portfolio. Financials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Lattice Semiconductor Corp (LSCC) accounts for about 0.38% of total assets, followed by Vertiv Holdings Class A (VRT) and Super Micro Computer Inc (SMCI).
The top 10 holdings account for about 3.16% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
SCHA seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index before fees and expenses. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Total Stock Market Index includes the small-cap portion of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index actually available to investors in the marketplace.
The ETF has added about 4.12% so far this year and it's up approximately 0.68% in the last one year (as of 11/22/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $38.13 and $46.36.
The ETF has a beta of 1.18 and standard deviation of 22.83% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 1745 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Schwab U.S. Small-Cap 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, SCHA is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.