15 important things you should know about ALPS EQL ETF

Updated: December 27, 2020

Bull Case

No Bull case arguments for now!

Bear Case

Low net assets
3-year return below the benchmark
5-year return below the benchmark
10-year return below the benchmark

Before we start: if you’re looking for EQL “stock” price, you can quickly find it out by visiting Finny and typing "EQL quote". If you’re looking for a quick scoop on EQL "stock" (price chart, key stats, buy or sell analysis and holdings), go to Finny and look for "EQL". You’ll get all this info in one place.

Are you looking to buy or sell EQL? Or perhaps you’re looking for EQL fact sheet, and learn about its alternatives? If so, you came to the right place.

In this EQL ETF review, we’ll address key questions our readers have been asking us about this fund, above and beyond what you can find in its prospectus, and on Morningstar or Yahoo Finance.

Here is what you’ll be able to find in this review:

Fact Sheet: EQL performance, returns, expense ratio, holdings and dividend yield;
Analysis: EQL buy or sell; the pros and cons of investing in EQL ETF;
Alternatives: other ETFs and mutual funds you should consider as alternatives to EQL.

And here is the list of questions we’ll answer:

Describe ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL).
What is EQL underlying index?
What are EQL holdings?
What is EQL performance? What are EQL historical returns?
How many up and down years did EQL have historically?
What is EQL dividend yield?
What is EQL expense ratio?
What is EQL tax efficiency (tax-cost ratio)?
What is EQL beta? How would you assess EQL risk?
What is EQL Sharpe ratio?
What is EQL Finny Score? EQL buy or sell?
What are the pros of investing in EQL? What are EQL buy reasons?
What are the cons of investing in EQL? What are EQL sell reasons?
Compare and contrast: EQL vs SPY.

So let’s start. Scroll down to the question that interests you the most.

Fact Sheet

1. Describe ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL).

The Fund seeks investment results that replicate as closely as possible the performance of the Merrill Lynch Equal Sector Weight Index. The Index is comprised, in equal weights, of nine sub-indices covering various sectors including Consumer, Technology, Energy, Utilities, Financial, Industrial and Health Care.

2. What is EQL underlying index?

Bank of America Securities - Merrill Lynch Equal Sector Weight Index.

3. What are EQL top holdings?

EQL has 0 stock holdings and 0 bond holdings.

The top 10 holdings represent 91.98% of total assets. Here are the top holdings:

Name	Symbol	% Assets
Utilities Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLU	9.95%
Communication Services Sel Sect SPDRÂ®ETF	XLC	9.41%
Consumer Discret Sel Sect SPDRÂ® ETF	XLY	9.28%
Technology Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLK	9.26%
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLP	9.13%
Financial Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLF	9.03%
Health Care Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLV	8.99%
Industrial Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLI	8.99%
Materials Select Sector SPDRÂ® ETF	XLB	8.98%
Real Estate Select Sector SPDRÂ®	XLRE	8.96%

4. What is EQL performance? What are EQL historical returns?

EQL has generated the following returns:

1-month return is 3.39%;
3-month return is 11.41%;
1-year return is 11.36%;
3-year return is 9.63%;
5-year return is 12.54%;
10-year return is 11.76%.

5. How many up and down years did EQL have historically?

In the last 10 years, EQL had 8 up years and 2 down years.

6. What is EQL dividend yield?

EQL yield is 2.52%.

7. What is EQL expense ratio?

EQL expense ratio is 0.28%. The expense ratio of a fund is the total percentage of fund assets used for administrative, management, and all other expenses.

8. What is EQL tax efficiency (tax-cost ratio)?

1-year ax cost ratio is 1.11%;
3-year ax cost ratio is 0.95%.

9. What is EQL beta? How would you assess EQL risk?

3-year beta is 0.95;
5-year beta is 0.95;
10-year beta is 0.96.

10. What is EQL Sharpe ratio?

3-year Sharpe ratio is 0.36;
5-year Sharpe ratio is 0.58;
10-year Sharpe ratio is 0.82.

Analysis

11. What is Finny Score? buy or sell?

Finny Score is 0. Our quantitative analysis shows 0 reasons to buy and 4 reasons to sell it, resulting in the Finny Score of 0.

12. What are the pros of investing in EQL? What are EQL buy reasons?

There are no apparent reasons to buy EQL.

13. What are the cons of investing in EQL? What are EQL negatives?

The following are EQL weaknesses from our perspective:

EQL net assets are $164.10 million. This fund is not a popular choice with retail investors.
EQL 3-year return is 9.63%, which is lower than the 3-year return of the benchmark index (S&P 500 TR USD), 13.47%.
EQL 5-year return is 12.54%, which is lower than the 5-year return of the benchmark index (S&P 500 TR USD), 15.37%.
EQL 10-year return is 11.76%, which is lower than the 10-year return of the benchmark index (S&P 500 TR USD), 13.87%.

Alternatives

14. Compare and contrast: EQL vs SPY.

Both EQL and SPY are ETFs. EQL has a lower 5-year return than SPY (12.54% vs 15.26%). EQL has a higher expense ratio than SPY (0.28% vs 0.09%). Below is the comparison between EQL and SPY.

	EQL	SPY
Segment	Equity: U.S. - Large Cap	Equity: U.S. - Large Cap
Net Assets	$164.10M	$322.49B
Expense Ratio	0.28%	0.09%
Management Style	passive (index-based)	passive (index-based)
Underlying Index	Bank of America Securities - Merrill Lynch Equal Sector Weight Index	S&P 500
YTD Return	10.01%	16.89%
1-Year Return	11.36%	18.29%
3-Year Return	9.63%	13.36%
5-Year Return	12.54%	15.26%
10-Year Return	11.76%	13.75%
Dividend Yield	2.52%	1.57%

SPY profile: The Trust seeks investment results that, before expenses, generally correspond to the price and yield performance of the component common stocks of the S&P 500 Index.

For further information, check out EQL vs SPY comparison details.

In the EQL review, we covered EQL key stats (return, performance, yield, expense ratio, and holdings), buy and sell analysis, and alternative investments. If this review was helpful to you, feel free to check out other mutual fund and ETF reviews.