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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP)?

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Launched on 06/19/2006, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Energy - Exploration segment of the equity market.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Energy - Exploration is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 16, placing it in bottom 0%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $3.54 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Exploration segment of the equity market. XOP seeks to match the performance of the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index represents the oil and gas exploration and production sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the US common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Oil & Gas Exploration Index is a modified equal weight index.

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 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.60%.

Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, Phillips 66 (PSX - Free Report) accounts for about 2.95% of total assets, followed by Chord Energy Corp (CHRD - Free Report) and Diamondback Energy Inc (FANG - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 26.85% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XOP return is roughly 0.87%, and it's up approximately 3.81% in the last one year (as of 02/19/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $116.28 and $153.81.

The ETF has a beta of 1.74 and standard deviation of 38.06% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 59 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production 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, XOP is an excellent 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.

Invesco Energy Exploration & Production ETF (PXE - Free Report) tracks Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production Intellidex Index and the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (IEO - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index. Invesco Energy Exploration & Production ETF has $129.96 million in assets, iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF has $668.82 million. PXE has an expense ratio of 0.60% and IEO charges 0.40%.

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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