Launched on 11/01/2006, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF (RTM) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Materials ETFs category of the market.What Are Smart Beta ETFs?The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.Fund Sponsor & IndexBecause the fund has amassed over $480.40 million, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Materials ETFs. RTM is managed by Invesco. Before fees and expenses, RTM seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials Index.The S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials Index equally weights stocks in the materials sector of the S&P 500 Index.Cost & Other ExpensesFor ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for RTM, making it on par with most peer products in the space.The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.43%.Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsEven though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.RTM's heaviest allocation is in the Materials sector, which is about 100% of the portfolio.Looking at individual holdings, Mosaic Co/the (MOS) accounts for about 4.59% of total assets, followed by Cf Industries Holdings Inc (CF) and Air Products And Chemicals Inc (APD).The top 10 holdings account for about 38.85% of total assets under management.Performance and RiskYear-to-date, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF return is roughly 1.24% so far, and was up about 20.40% over the last 12 months (as of 01/13/2022). RTM has traded between $137.89 and $180.89 in this past 52-week period.The ETF has a beta of 1.10 and standard deviation of 27.67% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 29 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.AlternativesInvesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Materials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index and the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB) tracks Materials Select Sector Index. FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $6.89 billion in assets, Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $8.65 billion. GUNR has an expense ratio of 0.46% and XLB charges 0.12%.Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Materials ETFs.Bottom LineTo learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox? Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week.Get it free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF (RTM): ETF Research Reports Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD): Free Stock Analysis Report CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF): Free Stock Analysis Report The Mosaic Company (MOS): Free Stock Analysis Report Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB): ETF Research Reports FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research