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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW)?

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The SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW - Free Report) was launched on 09/28/2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Technology - Software 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. Technology - Software is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 11, placing it in bottom 31%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $378.53 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Software segment of the equity market. XSW seeks to match the performance of the S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index represents the software sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Stock Market Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Global Select Market. The Software Index is a modified equal weight index.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

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 0.09%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 96.90% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Microstrategy Inc Cl A (MSTR - Free Report) accounts for about 0.98% of total assets, followed by Cleanspark Inc (CLSK - Free Report) and Applovin Corp Class A (APP - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 8.53% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 1.96% so far this year and it's up approximately 25.88% in the last one year (as of 05/22/2024). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $117.57 and $157.20.

The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 28.69% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 138 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Software & Services 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, XSW is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT - Free Report) tracks STOXX WORLD AC NEXGEN SOFTWARE DEV ID and the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV - Free Report) tracks S&P North American Technology-Software Index. Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF has $317.69 million in assets, iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has $6.32 billion. IGPT has an expense ratio of 0.60% and IGV 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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