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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF (IYM)?

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Launched on 06/12/2000, the iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF (IYM - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Materials - Broad segment of the equity market.

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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Materials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 13, placing it in bottom 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $876.11 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Materials - Broad segment of the equity market. IYM seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials Index before fees and expenses.

The Russell 1000 Basic Materials RIC 22.5/45 Capped Gross Index measures the performance of the basic materials sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.41%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.17%.

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 Materials sector--about 93.60% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Freeport Mcmoran Inc (FCX - Free Report) accounts for about 9.40% of total assets, followed by Newmont (NEM - Free Report) and Air Products And Chemicals Inc (APD - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 59.30% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, IYM has lost about -17.32%, and is down about -10.60% in the last one year (as of 07/18/2022). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $111.64 and $154.02.

The ETF has a beta of 1.16 and standard deviation of 28.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 41 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IYM is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Materials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB - Free Report) tracks Materials Select Sector Index and the FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR - Free Report) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index. Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $5.89 billion in assets, FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $6.99 billion. XLB has an expense ratio of 0.10% and GUNR charges 0.46%.

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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