Should iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Why Large Cap Blend

Large cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Considered a more stable option, large cap companies boast more predictable cash flows and are less volatile than their mid and small cap counterparts.

Blend ETFs are aptly named, since they tend to hold a mix of growth and value stocks, as well as show characteristics of both kinds of equities.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.03%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.1%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector -- about 36.9% of the portfolio. Financials and Telecom round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 8.61% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT).

The top 10 holdings account for about 39.59% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

IVV seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P 500 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market.

The ETF return is roughly 8.83% so far this year and is up roughly 17.65% in the last one year (as of 07/24/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $624.65 and $763.06.

The ETF has a beta of 1.00 and standard deviation of 14.74% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 508 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IVV is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares (VOO) track the same index. While State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust has $779.00 billion in assets, Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares has $964.78 billion. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VOO charges 0.03%.

Bottom-Line

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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