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Build On a Strong Earnings Season With These 3 ETFs

Author: Nathan Reiff. Article Published: 6/12/2026.

Despite numerous reasons investors might expect otherwise, 2026 appears to be off to an excellent start across much of the market. As shown by strong earnings growth that often tops analyst expectations, solid revenue gains, and continued margin expansion, the AI-driven market boom has remained resilient.

While not every segment of the market has flourished, the rally extends beyond information technology. Financial stocks, for example, have also performed well overall. For investors, that broad strength may create an opportunity to benefit through diversified exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Ideally, these investments can help capture market-wide growth while reducing exposure to risks tied to any single stock. One fund focused on overall momentum, one built around price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios, and one emphasizing momentum quality and consistency may be a good place to start.

A Momentum-Focused Fund With Market-Beating Returns

The iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (BATS: MTUM) is one of the low-cost factor-based ETFs that have gained significant popularity in recent years. This fund targets a group of large-cap U.S. equities with a recent history of strong share price momentum.

Its underlying index helps ensure diversification across sectors, while sector-level weighting keeps the portfolio from becoming too concentrated.

The result is a fund with about half of its portfolio in technology stocks, with none of its nearly 130 holdings accounting for more than 6.5% of assets. The fund is well established, with close to $26 billion in assets under management and a healthy one-month average trading volume of around 1.5 million shares.

In terms of performance, the momentum strategy continues to deliver: MTUM has returned around 25% year-to-date (YTD) and 35% over the last 12 months. A modest dividend yield of 0.7% adds a little extra appeal. Overall, MTUM is a strong offering at a relatively low fee of 0.15% per year.

Unique CAPE-Based Value Fund With a Dividend Add-On

Economist Robert Shiller's CAPE ratio remains a widely followed valuation metric, and the Shiller CAPE U.S. Equities ETF (NYSEARCA: CAPE) translates that approach into a diversified fund. CAPE seeks to focus on large-cap U.S. equities from the four cheapest sectors, as determined by the CAPE ratio, while also using momentum as a secondary screen to help avoid possible value traps.

As of April 30, 2026, CAPE held information technology stocks, real estate firms, health care names, and consumer discretionary companies. The fund is rebalanced monthly to keep its positioning aligned with current market trends. The strategy is unique, but results have been mixed recently: CAPE is trading roughly flat YTD. That helps illustrate an important point: even when a sector appears undervalued, it does not guarantee that the stocks in that sector will quickly generate returns.

For investors, CAPE may be most appealing as a buy-and-hold ETF. That is partly due to its relatively modest asset base of just over a quarter of a billion dollars and its similarly small trading volume. At the same time, the fund's expense ratio is fairly high at 0.65%, though that is offset by a 1.3% dividend yield.

Quality of Momentum Is Key for This Specialized Active Fund

The Alpha Architect U.S. Quantitative Momentum ETF (NASDAQ: QMOM) is another momentum-based fund. In this case, QMOM factors in one-year returns and, more specifically, a history of small, continuous daily price gains rather than a smaller number of sharp spikes. The fund also focuses on smaller stocks, on the assumption that these companies receive less analyst coverage and may therefore present more mispricing opportunities.

QMOM is actively managed, but its expense ratio of 0.28% would not necessarily suggest that. Altogether, the ETF holds just over 50 different U.S. equity positions, all of which are roughly equally weighted, with no single name representing more than 2.5% of the portfolio. Its largest holdings include Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL) and TD SYNNEX Corp. (NYSE: SNX), although the fund does not rely entirely on technology names.

QMOM's approach has generally been successful: the fund has returned close to 17% YTD and offers an appealing dividend yield of about 1.2%. While it is not especially well known, its asset base is approaching half a billion dollars. This fund may therefore appeal to investors seeking a momentum play a little off the beaten path—one that may be especially responsive to strong, sustained earnings performance among companies.

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Why's Amazon Suddenly Lagging the S&P 500, and Is It a Warning?

Author: Sam Quirke. Article Published: 6/9/2026.

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) has had a difficult few weeks. The stock is trading around $240 after hitting $278 just a month ago, and it is back near the level it traded at last October.

While the S&P 500 has quietly gained about 2% over the same period, Amazon has given back a meaningful portion of the gains it posted during one of its strongest rallies in years. For a stock that spent much of April and May leading the market higher, that divergence is striking.

Fortunately for long-term bulls, the explanation has less to do with a deteriorating business and more to do with the market grappling with the ongoing tension at the heart of Amazon's current investment case: the company is spending at a scale that is compressing near-term free cash flow, and investors are debating whether that spending will deliver the returns bulls are promising.

That debate is worth understanding in detail because how it plays out will determine whether the current pullback is a warning sign or a better buying opportunity for Amazon this year.

The CapEx Vs. Free Cash Flow Tension

Amazon's most recent quarterly results were, by most measures, very strong. Net sales rose 17% year over year, AWS grew 28%, and operating income was solid. But one number stood out for the wrong reasons: the company’s free cash flow for the trailing 12 months fell sharply to just $1.2 billion as property and equipment costs tied directly to Amazon’s scaling AI infrastructure surged.

For a company of Amazon's scale, that figure is worryingly low, especially given that it was down 95% from the figure reported a year earlier. And while the stock had shrugged it off at the time and rallied to new highs after the report, it appears this capital expenditure concern is finally catching up with it. It does not help that broader market sentiment toward AI stocks has cooled markedly in recent weeks.

Amazon is committing enormous capital to building out AI data centers, and the returns on that spending are not yet fully reflected in the financials. Investors who have long rewarded Amazon for its earnings power are now being asked to believe that the hundreds of billions being invested in infrastructure today will translate into blowout revenue and earnings tomorrow.

That is not an unreasonable ask when you look at Amazon’s track record. Still, it is a bigger leap of faith than buying a company with rock-solid free cash flow. In a market that has become increasingly sensitive to capital discipline, the optics are uncomfortable.

Why the Bull Case Remains Intact

However, the counterargument is that Amazon's CapEx is not reckless spending; it is a strategic investment to meet demonstrable demand. The company’s AWS unit, for example, grew 28% in the most recent quarter, a stunning acceleration for a business that already generates tens of billions in annual revenue.

Amazon’s pipeline of enterprise AI partnerships and commitments is also growing, offering genuine visibility into where future revenue may come from. In addition, the recently announced deal with optical fiber giant Corning is further proof that Amazon’s AI infrastructure buildout is not only real but gathering pace.

In that context, the current compression in the company’s free cash flow looks more like the necessary cost of investing to meet rising demand than a sign that demand is failing to materialize.

What the Analysts Are Saying

Anyone who has been concerned about the pullback in AMZN will be reassured to hear that the analyst community has not been spooked by it. If anything, analysts are using it as an opportunity to double down on their bullish outlook.

UBS just gave Amazon stock a fresh Buy rating and a $315 price target, while Jefferies and Citi both reiterated their Outperform ratings this month.

In fact, the growing list of analysts with price targets north of $300 is worth taking seriously. It suggests the market’s reaction in recent weeks has been overemphasizing sinking free cash flow numbers and underestimating the payoff around the corner.

As we head into the summer, this tension between CapEx and free cash flow is likely to continue. But the underlying business has rarely looked more strategically well-positioned, and the gap between where the stock is and where the analysts think it should be is increasingly difficult to ignore.