IVE ETF Near $212: Is This S&P 500 Value Play Still Cheap for 2026?

IVE ETF Near $212: Is This S&P 500 Value Play Still Cheap for 2026?

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (IVE) sits just under its $214.79 peak, mixing 27% tech, banks and defensives at a discount to the S&P 500 as Fed cuts and 14.5% earnings growth projections shape 2026 | That's TradingNEWS

TradingNEWS Archive 12/20/2025 9:15:14 PM
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NYSEARCA:IVE – Value-Tilted Access To The S&P 500 At $212.09

IVE ETF – Price, Trading Range, and Liquidity Snapshot

NYSEARCA:IVE closed at $212.09 on December 19, 2025, gaining 0.86 on the day (+0.41%) with the intraday band between $211.41 and $212.66. The current level sits just under the 52-week high of $214.79 and well above the 52-week low of $165.79, putting IVE ETF near the top of its annual range. Fund size is substantial, with roughly $52.6B in assets and a quoted fund market cap near $28.9B, and average volume of about 261.7K shares per day keeps the bid–ask spread tight for both tactical and long-only users.

NYSEARCA:IVE Portfolio Structure and Top Holdings

The iShares S&P 500 Value ETF tracks the value sleeve of the S&P 500, but IVE ETF is still dominated by mega-cap franchises rather than obscure small caps. The top ten positions account for roughly 29% of assets and include Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Procter & Gamble (PG). That mix keeps the fund anchored in dominant cash-generating businesses while keeping enough exposure to AI, cloud, energy and consumer defensives to track the main profit engines of the U.S. market.

IVE ETF Sector Exposures: Value Tilt With 27% in Technology

Sector weights are the core of the NYSEARCA:IVE story. Technology sits at roughly 27% of the portfolio, financials around 16%, healthcare near 9%, industrials close to 8%, with the balance spread across consumer staples, energy, utilities and other defensives. That structure lines up with 2026 earnings forecasts: FactSet data point to about 14.5% EPS growth for the S&P 500 in 2026, with industrials expected to grow earnings by roughly 15%, healthcare around 9% and consumer staples in mid-single digits, while utilities and energy ride power-demand and commodity themes. IVE ETF participates in AI and software upside via MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, AMD, but couples that with cheaper banks, healthcare, and defensives that trade at lower multiples than the S&P 500 aggregate.

IVE ETF Performance, Volatility Profile, Yield and Fees

In 2025, NYSEARCA:IVE delivered about 12–12.5% total return versus roughly 14% for the S&P 500, but with lower drawdowns during tariff headlines and macro scares. Risk metrics are consistent with that: fund beta is around 0.90 and standard deviation close to 13%, both below the broad index, giving better risk-adjusted characteristics than a straight S&P tracker. Income is modest but not trivial; the trailing yield sits around 1.61–1.63%, higher than the S&P 500’s roughly 1.2% yield. Dividend quality is solid, with about 24 consecutive years of dividend increases and three-year dividend growth above 5%. The expense ratio is 0.18%, materially below the ~0.50% median ETF fee, so very little of the index return is eroded by costs.

Valuation of NYSEARCA:IVE vs S&P 500 and 10-Year Treasuries

Valuation is where IVE ETF earns its “value” label. The S&P 500 trades near a 30.8x trailing P/E, implying an earnings yield of about 3.24%. With the 10-year U.S. Treasury around 4.18%, bonds currently deliver a higher yield than S&P earnings, which flags index-level overvaluation. NYSEARCA:IVE is cheaper, trading closer to 23x trailing earnings, implying a meaningfully higher earnings yield than the aggregate market while still delivering around 1.6% in cash yield plus mid-single-digit dividend growth. It is not distressed value, but it is a better entry point than paying 30+ times earnings for the full S&P 500.

Macro Setup for 2026 and Why It Favours NYSEARCA:IVE

Policy and macro expectations for 2026 line up well with IVE ETF positioning. Fed funds now sit in a 3.50–3.75% band, down from the 5.25–5.50% peak, and futures imply roughly 50 bps of further cuts next year. Consensus GDP growth around 2.6% points to a soft-landing environment rather than a deep recession. Tariffs, sticky core inflation around 3%, and geopolitical noise remain live, but the extreme recession risk that dominated earlier cycles has eased. In that regime, lower rates support equity valuations but the earnings-yield gap versus the 4.18% 10-year argues against paying top-of-cycle multiples for the fastest-growing names. A large-cap value fund with embedded tech exposure like NYSEARCA:IVE fits that environment better than either pure small caps or pure high-multiple growth.

Presidential Cycle, Drawdown Pattern and Return Bands for IVE ETF

Cycle data frame reasonable expectations. Historically, the second year of a U.S. presidential term has delivered about 4.64% average S&P 500 returns since 1950, making year two the weakest of the four-year cycle. Separately, years that experienced a double-digit drawdown but still finished positive — as 2025 did, with the S&P 500 dropping from roughly 6,147 to 4,835 before recovering — have produced about 13.09% average gains in the following year. Combining those regimes gives a blended rough guide near 8.7–9.0% for 2026. Street S&P 500 targets clustered around 7,700–8,000 from current levels imply 15–18% upside if earnings and multiples cooperate. In that band, a lower-beta vehicle like IVE ETF could realistically deliver 9–13% total return with less volatility than a full market-cap index, especially given its higher starting yield and cheaper valuation.

Inflation, Labour Market and Fed-Path Risks Around NYSEARCA:IVE

Risks around NYSEARCA:IVE are macro, not stock-specific. Inflation expectations firmed after the latest tariff round; CPI and core CPI sit near 3%, and some economists project a 0.8 percentage-point inflation bump from trade policy before any moderation. The labour market has cooled, with unemployment already moving above the 4.5% level some houses had pencilled in for year-end and payroll growth slowing while jobless claims remain elevated. This puts the Fed in a narrow corridor: cut too slowly and equity markets may re-price growth and earnings; cut too aggressively and inflation risk re-emerges. In that environment, small caps and highly levered growth names are more vulnerable. IVE ETF mitigates this by concentrating on large-cap balance sheets and value-tilted sectors that can better absorb a choppy policy path.

AI, Tech Leadership Risk and How IVE ETF Balances It

Another clear risk is concentration in AI and megacap tech. Relative-strength charts still show tech, via funds like XLK, outperforming the S&P 500, with the ratio trending from bottom left to top right. If that leadership reverses, pure growth products will take the hit. NYSEARCA:IVE runs tech at roughly 27%, not 40–50%, and offsets that with financials, healthcare, industrials and staples that are valued more conservatively and projected to deliver high-single- to mid-teens earnings growth in 2026. If AI and cloud names such as MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, AMD keep rerating higher, IVE ETF participates; if the AI trade de-rates, the value tilt and dividend profile reduce the damage compared with a pure growth allocation.

Final View on NYSEARCA:IVE – Buy, Sell, or Hold at $212.09?

At $212.09, with a $165.79–$214.79 52-week band, beta near 0.90, ~13% standard deviation, ~1.6% yield, a 24-year dividend-growth record, a 0.18% expense ratio, and a sector mix of 27% tech, 16% financials, ~9% healthcare, ~8% industrials plus defensives, NYSEARCA:IVE is a clean way to stay long U.S. equities into 2026 without paying full market multiples for pure growth. With S&P 500 EPS expected to rise about 14.5%, GDP around 2.6%, and another 50 bps of Fed cuts likely, the backdrop is constructive, but the earnings-yield gap versus the 4.18% 10-year means selectivity matters. On the data set — price, valuation, sector mix, macro fit, and risk profile — IVE ETF is a Buy, aimed at capturing most of a potential 2026 upswing with better downside protection than a straight S&P 500 tracker.

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