Add Utilities to SACEVS?

What happens if we extend the “Simple Asset Class ETF Value Strategy” (SACEVS) with a utilities risk premium, derived from the yield on Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU)? To investigate, we apply the SACEVS methodology to the following asset class exchange-traded funds (ETF), plus cash:

3-month Treasury bills (Cash)
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)
iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD)
XLU
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)

This set of ETFs relates to four risk premiums, as specified below: (1) term; (2) credit (default); (3) utilities; and, (4) equity. We focus on effects of adding the utilities risk premium on gross compound annual growth rates (CAGR), maximum drawdowns (MaxDD) and annual Sharpe ratios of the Best Value (picking the most undervalued premium) and Weighted (weighting all undervalued premiums according to degree of undervaluation) versions of SACEVS. Using lagged quarterly S&P 500 earnings, monthly S&P 500 Index levels and monthly yields for 3-month U.S. Treasury bill (T-bill), the 10-year Constant Maturity U.S. Treasury note (T-note), Moody’s Seasoned Baa Corporate Bonds since March 1989 (limited by availability of earnings data), XLU prices and dividends since December 1998 (inception) and monthly dividend-adjusted closing prices for the above asset class ETFs since July 2002, all through May 2024, we find that: (more…)