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Forget QQQ: This ETF Marries the Magnificent 7 and Communications
MarketBeatยท2025-09-10 17:13

Group 1 - The technology sector is favored by financial media, retail investors, and sell-side firms, particularly due to its association with AI and the Magnificent Seven stocks [1] - Invesco QQQ Trust is a leading tech-focused ETF with $364.41 billion in assets under management, heavily weighted towards the Magnificent Seven stocks, with NVIDIA being the largest holding at 9.95% [2] - The top 10 holdings of QQQ account for 52.2% of the portfolio, indicating a concentration risk [3] Group 2 - The Communication Services sector has shown strong performance since the S&P 500's rebalancing in September 2018, finishing in the top three sectors four times and achieving an average annual return of 16.33% [4][5] - In 2023, the Communication Services sector has a year-to-date gain of 18.60%, outperforming all other sectors [6] - The sector combines growth potential, consistent consumer demand, and defensive characteristics during market downturns [7] Group 3 - The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) has gained 127.41% since its launch in June 2018, outperforming QQQ's 91.69% increase over the same period [10] - XLC has lower assets under management at $26.14 billion but offers a lower expense ratio of 0.08% and a higher dividend yield of 0.92% compared to QQQ [11] - XLC's largest holding, Meta Platforms, has an 18.81% weighting, contributing to greater diversification and lower implied volatility of 10.9% compared to QQQ's 17.45% [12] Group 4 - XLC is currently trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 19.40, which is considered fair in a market with high valuations, while QQQ's P/E is 33.33 [13] - XLC has seen a significant decrease in short interest, dropping from 12-14 million shares in July to 5.8 million shares, indicating a reduction in bearish sentiment [15][16] - Institutional buying has outpaced selling, with inflows of $21.59 million exceeding outflows of $2.77 billion over the past 12 months [17]