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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE)?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Financials - Regional Banks segment of the equity market, look no further than the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 06/19/2006.

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Financials - Regional Banks is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 2, placing it in top 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $5.86 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Regional Banks segment of the equity market. KRE seeks to match the performance of the S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Regional Banks Select Industry Index represents the regional banks segment of the S&P Total Market Index.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.91%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Silvergate Capital Corp. Class A accounts for about 3.01% of total assets, followed by Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL - Free Report) and Regions Financial Corporation (RF - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 21.95% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, KRE has added about 1.39%, and is up roughly 14.51% in the last one year (as of 02/23/2022). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $59.87 and $78.78.

The ETF has a beta of 1.28 and standard deviation of 40.86% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 134 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, KRE is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Financials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF (KBWR - Free Report) tracks KBW Nasdaq Regional Banking Index and the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Regional Banks Index. Invesco KBW Regional Banking ETF has $88.06 million in assets, iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF has $1.47 billion. KBWR has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IAT charges 0.41%.

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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