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Should You Invest in the Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS)?

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The Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS - Free Report) was launched on 09/23/2004, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Industrials - 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.

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. Industrials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 5, placing it in top 31%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $4.37 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. VIS seeks to match the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index before fees and expenses.

The MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Industrials 25/50 is made up of stocks of large, mid-size, and small U.S. companies within the industrials sector.

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

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.42%.

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 Industrials sector--about 99.10% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Raytheon Technologies Corp. (RTX - Free Report) accounts for about 3.45% of total assets, followed by Honeywell International Inc. (HON - Free Report) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS - Free Report) .

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 11.27% so far this year and was up about 12.50% in the last one year (as of 09/13/2023). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $157.54 and $212.60.

The ETF has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 19.12% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 391 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vanguard Industrials 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, VIS is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF (FXR - Free Report) tracks StrataQuant Industrials Index and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI - Free Report) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF has $1.69 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $15.13 billion. FXR has an expense ratio of 0.61% and XLI 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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