Yahoo Finance Is SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Launched on 01/31/2006, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
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.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by State Street Global Advisors, and has been able to amass over $7.09 billion, which makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index represents the biotechnology sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Biotech Index is a modified equal weight index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For XBI, it has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector --about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Moderna Inc (MRNA) accounts for about 1.11% of total assets, followed by Exelixis Inc (EXEL) and Exact Sciences Corp (EXAS).
The top 10 holdings account for about 10.77% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 5.11% and is up about 10.28% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/25/2024), respectively. XBI has traded between $64.12 and $102.89 during this last 52-week period.
XBI has a beta of 0.96 and standard deviation of 35.12% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 140 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF (FBT) tracks NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) tracks Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF has $1.14 billion in assets, iShares Biotechnology ETF has $7.64 billion. FBT has an expense ratio of 0.56% and IBB charges 0.45%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs.
Bottom Line
To 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.
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SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI): ETF Research Reports
Moderna, Inc. (MRNA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB): ETF Research Reports
Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF (FBT): ETF Research Reports
