Hartford Multifactor US Equity ETF

ROUS

Market cap $530M

ROUS is a multifactor large-cap value fund with excellent diversification features, a 0.19% expense ratio, and $410 million in assets under management. Its strategy, which changed approximately five years ago, emphasizes value (50%), quality (30%), and momentum (20%) while targeting 15% less risk compared to the Russell 1000 Index. Performance since the strategy change has been solid, with ROUS outperforming the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF by 12.52% and keeping pace with more popular peers like VTV.

Bull vs. Bear is a weekly feature where the VettaFi writers' room takes opposite sides to debate controversial stocks, strategies, or market ideas — with plenty of discussion of ETF ideas to play either angle. For this edition of Bull vs.

Evidence has shown that many investors miss out on returns by trying to time the market. It's particularly hard to predict which factors will win, making it important for portfolios to get balanced exposure across multiple diversified return drivers.

As U.S. Treasury yields decline, investors may want to consider a defensive value equity allocation. Many investors limited their equity exposure in recent months, comfortable with the yields offered by fixed income investments and looking to minimize downside risk.

Many investors may be surprised to see how concentrated their exposure to the broader market really is. While investing in the broader U.S. market – a collection of companies based on size — seems like it should offer balanced exposure, it may actually introduce significant concentration risk to portfolios.