Making its debut on 12/02/2015, smart beta exchange traded fund State Street SPDR Russell 1000 Low Volatility Focus ETF (ONEV) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by State Street Investment Management, and has been able to amass over $449 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Russell 1000 Low Volatility Focused Factor Index.
The Russell 1000 Low Volatility Focused Factor Index reflects the performance of a segment of large-capitalization U.S. equity securities demonstrating a combination of core factors high value, high quality, and low size characteristics, with a focus factor comprising low volatility characteristics.
Cost & Other Expenses
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.20% for ONEV, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
ONEV's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.81%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For ONEV, it has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector --about 20.8% of the portfolio --while Healthcare and Financials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Cardinal Health Inc (CAH) accounts for about 1.75% of total assets, followed by Cencora Inc (COR) and Arch Capital Group Ltd (ACGL).
ONEV's top 10 holdings account for about 9.35% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added about 3.22% and is up about 9.06% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 05/18/2026), respectively. ONEV has traded between $126.29 and $143.00 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.82 and standard deviation of 12.47% for the trailing three-year period. With about 444 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR Russell 1000 Low Volatility Focus ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $826.14 billion in assets, Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares has $956.18 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VOO changes 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Blend
Bottom Line
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State Street SPDR Russell 1000 Low Volatility Focus ETF (ONEV): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).