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Should You Invest in the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE)?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Energy - Broad segment of the equity market, the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 12/16/1998.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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. Energy - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 10, placing it in bottom 38%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $38.32 billion, making it the largest ETF attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Broad segment of the equity market. XLE seeks to match the performance of the Energy Select Sector Index before fees and expenses.

The Energy Select Sector Index includes companies from the following industries: oil, gas & consumable fuels and energy equipment & services.

Costs

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 0.10%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.98%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

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

Looking at individual holdings, Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report) accounts for about 22.77% of total assets, followed by Chevron Corporation (CVX - Free Report) and Schlumberger Nv (SLB - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 71.06% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XLE has lost about -7.45%, and is up roughly 9.53% in the last one year (as of 03/14/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $67.49 and $94.08.

The ETF has a beta of 1.35 and standard deviation of 40.71% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 26 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Energy Select Sector SPDR 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, XLE is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Energy ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

IShares Global Energy ETF (IXC - Free Report) tracks S&P Global 1200 Energy Sector Index and the Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index. IShares Global Energy ETF has $1.90 billion in assets, Vanguard Energy ETF has $7.72 billion. IXC has an expense ratio of 0.40% and VDE charges 0.10%.

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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