Canadian investors can anticipate more mid-cap ETFs

Article Excerpt

Canada has a very vibrant universe of medium-sized listed companies, but ETF promoters provide very few options for investors. We highlight the iShares TSX Completion ETF above, but even that fund is a mix of medium and smaller companies and has yet to attract a large asset base. However, U.S. ETF providers offer you a large number of mid-cap funds. They also come in a variety of styles—mid-cap blend, mid-cap growth, and mid-cap value. The “growth” ETFs focus on companies that show strong revenue or profit growth; the “value” category zeroes in on stocks that have low valuations, while the “blend” category holds a mix of growth and value stocks. The largest of the mid-cap “blend” ETFs is the Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (symbol VO) with $28 billion of assets. The largest “growth” ETF is the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (symbol IWP), with $11 billion; and the largest “value” ETF is the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF (symbol IWS). Investors in the U.S.-focused Invesco S&P Mid-Cap Momentum ETF (symbol XMMO) are up a whopping 93% over…