An ETF Star Of The Bull Market

The current bull market in U.S. stocks, one of the longest such runs in U.S. equity market history, celebrates its eighth anniversary later this week. That is sure to prompt to some review of the best-performing stocks and exchange-traded funds over that stretch.

Non-Leveraged ETFs And RPV

Among non-leveraged ETFs, the champion of the current bull market is the Guggenheim S&P 500 Pure Value ETF RPV. RPV tracks the S&P 500 Pure Value Index and holds 115 stocks, or fewer than a quarter of the stocks found in the traditional S&P 500.

Since the start of the current bull market, RPV has produced average annualized returns of 29.5 percent and a cumulative return of 685.3 percent, according to Morningstar data. A $10,000 investment in RPV on March 10, 2009 would be worth almost $78,540 today.

RPV, which is home to $1.06 billion in assets under management, allocates nearly a third of its weight to financial services stocks. However, RPV's weight to energy stocks, another sector that is often a staple of value ETFs, is just 6.5 percent, making that sector RPV's seventh-largest sector weight. After financials, RPV devotes almost 29 percent of its lineup to consumer discretionary and healthcare stocks.

The Runner Up

The Guggenheim S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Value ETF RZV is the second-best non-leveraged ETF since the start of the current bull market. Over that time, RZV has delivered average annualized returns of just under 29 percent and a cumulative return of 659.5 percent, according to Morningstar data.

RZV tracks the S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Value Index. Though that benchmark is an offshoot of the widely followed S&P SmallCap 600 Index, RZV holds just 151 stocks, according to issuer data.

S&P measures value stocks “using three factors: the ratios of book value, earnings, and sales to price. S&P Pure Value Indices include only those components of the parent index that exhibit strong value characteristics, and weights them by value score,” according to the index provider.

A $10,000 investment in RZV on March 10, 2009 would be worth almost $76,000 today. Five of the 10 best-performing non-leveraged ETFs since the start of the current bull market are Guggenheim ETFs, more than any other issuer.

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