3 ETFs To Consider For The Value Resurgence

Value stocks and exchange traded funds are on the mend, a theme that's garnering considerable attention.

Rightfully so.

Data from ETF Replay indicate that over the past 90 days, the S&P 500 Value Index is higher by 5.9% compared to gains of 3.5% and 4.6%, respectively, for the S&P 500 Growth Index and the S&P 500.

A move like this has been a long time coming as value has lagged growth for more than a decade and often by sizable margins. On that note, almost overlooked is the fact that the S&P 500 Value Index is topping the growth rival and the S&P 500 itself over the past 12 months, albeit by modest margins.

“Value stocks usually trade at lower prices relative to fundamental measures of value, like earnings and the book value of assets,” according to ETF Trends. “During periods of accelerating growth, asset categories including value, small-cap and cyclical stocks that exhibit high levels of business leverage and needed access to credit tend to outperform.”

Here are three value ETFs for investors to consider as they look to participate in the factors' renaissance.

American Century STOXX U.S. Quality Value ETF (VALQ)

The American Century STOXX U.S. Quality Value ETF VALQ follows the iSTOXX American Century USA Quality Value Index, which brings a quality overlay to the value approach.

VALQ “evokes a combination of value and quality attributes in portfolio construction,” said CFRA Research Director of ETF & Mutual Fund Research Todd Rosenbluth in a recent note.” According to our research, five of VALQ’s recent top-10 holdings have CFRA Buy or Strong Buy recommendations and seven of the ten have S&P Quality Rankings of B+ or higher, highlighting their consistent dividend and earnings records in the past ten years.”

VALQ, which debuted in January 2018, holds 240 stocks and is something of a departure from traditional value ETFs in that the combined to the financial services and energy sectors, often two cornerstones of value funds, is just about 12% in this American Century fund.

Due to part of VALQ's objective being to unearth sustainable income, the fund allocates about 36% of its combined weight to the high dividend consumer staples, real estate and utilities sectors.

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Vanguard Value ETF (VTV)

Far more traditional than the aforementioned VALQ, the Vanguard Value ETF VTV is the largest value ETF and one of the cheapest with an expense ratio of just 0.04% per year, or $4 on a $10,000 investment.

“VTV has six of its top-10 holdings as CFRA Buys and Strong Buys and a similar number with B+ Quality Rankings,” said Rosenbluth.

VTV holds 349 stocks with a median market value of $91.2 billion. Like many old guard value funds, VTV is heavily allocated to financial services stocks (24.2% of its weight). That allocation is sensible when considering that the sector is one that is legitimately heavily discounted relative to the broader market.

Alpha Architect Quant Value ETF (QVAL)

The Alpha Architect Quant Value ETF QVAL can really shine when value is back in style as highlighted by a month-to-date gain of 11.34%. A concentrated portfolio of 40 to 50 stocks, QVAL's objective is to unearth deep value, high quality stocks with the latter being an important trait for those looking to avoid value traps.

QVAL “uses operating-profits-to-enterprise-value to gauge value, but its concentration sets it apart. After screening out companies at risk of financial distress or manipulation, and settling on the highest-quality businesses in financial and operational strength, the exchange-traded fund is left with 45 stocks in a portfolio,” according to Barron's.

None of QVAL's 41 holdings exceed weights of 2.80% and the fund's financial services weight is low compared to traditional rivals. Conversely, the fund has large cyclical allocations, including industrial and consumer discretionary names.