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Is Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF the Smartest Way to Invest in the S&P 500?

July 17, 2025
08:45 AM
4 min read
AI Enhanced
investmenteconomystocksfinancialtechnologyhealthcaremarket cyclesseasonal analysis

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What stands out here is The S&P 500 is what just everyone uses to monitor the performance of the U. Additionally, Stock market. That makes sense given its broad representation...

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4 min read

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investment

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Published

July 17, 2025

08:45 AM

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The Motley Fool

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Key Topics
investmenteconomystocksfinancialtechnologyhealthcaremarket cyclesseasonal analysis

What stands out here is The S&P 500 is what just everyone uses to monitor the performance of the U

Additionally, Stock market

That makes sense given its broad representation of the U

Economy, but does that mean it is the smartest way to invest in stocks

Maybe, maybe not, depending on what your personal investment apach and goals look

For many, the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF (SPGP 0 (which is quite significant). 94%) could be a better option, considering recent developments

What exactly does the S&P 500 track

Furthermore, However, The S&P 500 is a collection of roughly 500 stocks that are selected by a committee, in today's market environment

Moreover, Each stock is expected to be important to its industry, which generally means they are large companies

The overall list of around 500 stocks is also expected to be broadly representative of the U (something worth watching)

While this apach ultimately creates an index that can be used to track the performance of the U

Stock market, the real goal is slightly different (something worth watching)

That's notable when you look at what the S&P 500 offers for investors looking to take a more nuanced investment apach

On the other hand, Essentially, the index is just a quick list of large and economically important companies

That can vide the foundation for other investment apaches

For example, the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF uses the 500 stocks in the index as a starting point for picking high-yield stocks

On the other hand, There are other ETFs that create value and growth portfolios from the index (this bears monitoring)

But the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF might be the most interesting of all, given the current landscape

Image source: Getty Images (something worth watching)

On the other hand, What does the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF do

On the other hand, The Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF starts out by looking at the S&P 500's stocks

It examines sales-per- growth, earnings-per- growth, price-to-earnings ratios, financial leverage, and return on equity with the goal of finding attractively priced stocks that have growing es backing them

Around 75 stocks get into the index that the GARP ETF tracks, in today's market environment

SPY Total Return Price data by YCharts

The end result is a portfolio that has outperformed two of the most S&P 500 index ETFs, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

To be fair, the performance difference isn't huge, but over time this type of small difference can start to add up

More to the point, buying the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF aims to in on the most attractive stocks in the index

Conversely, The Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF won't be right for every investor

For example, the dividend yield is a fairly modest 1

While that's slightly more than the S&P 500 index's roughly 1. 3%, it pales in comparison to the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF's 4

However, If income is your goal, you bably won't want to own the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF

But if buying a collection of large, economically important, and attractively priced companies with strong growth spects sounds good, the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF could be perfect

The blem with the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF That said, there is one small blem with the Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF

Furthermore, 36% expense ratio is rather high for an exchange-traded fund

Yet, based on its outperformance, it seems the ETF has easily earned the right to charge a premium price

With the market near all-time highs today, it might make sense to skip the S&P 500 index fund and buy the more focused Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF, which appears to have mixed value and growth into an attractive index alternative

Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned

The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy (quite telling), amid market uncertainty.