Growth, value stocks could see boost from Russell rebalancing

A bullish move may be ahead for both value and growth in the year’s second half.

VettaFi’s Todd Rosenbluth thinks value stocks, which have been market laggards, could get a lift from one of the biggest Wall Street events of the year: the FTSE Russell’s annual rebalancing.

“It’s worth paying attention to value,” the firm’s head of research told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “It feels like … [for a] long time that growth has outperformed value.”

On Friday, the Russell indexes underwent their annual reconstitution to reflect changes in the market as companies grow and shift. The iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF is up 20% so far this year, while the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF is up almost 6%.

“We do think there’s a place for both growth and value within a broader portfolio — just people are skewed more toward growth heading into the second half of the year,” he added. “There have been periods when the pendulum has swung back in favor of value.”

FTSE Russell CEO Fiona Bassett said on “ETF Edge” the indices are built to reflect the nature of the market.

“One of the benefits of the Russell franchise generally is our ability to provide different sleeves of exposure,” she said. “So, for those people who want to get concentrated exposure to value or to growth, we have the indices available to do that.”

As of May 31, FactSet reports the Russell 1000 Growth ETF’s top three holdings are Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia. Meanwhile, the Russell 1000 Value ETF’s top holdings are Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase and Exxon Mobil.