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Is Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF (PBE) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF (PBE - Free Report) made its debut on 06/23/2005, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $269.92 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. Before fees and expenses, PBE seeks to match the performance of the Dynamic Biotechnology & Genome Intellidex Index.

The Dynamic Biotech & Genome Intellidex Index seeks to provide capital appreciation by thoroughly evaluating companies based on a variety of investment merit criteria, including price momentum, earnings momentum, quality, management action, and value.

Cost & Other Expenses

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.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.58%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.05%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.

PBE's heaviest allocation is in the Healthcare sector, which is about 99.90% of the portfolio.

Taking into account individual holdings, Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc (BMRN - Free Report) accounts for about 5.59% of the fund's total assets, followed by Incyte Corp (INCY - Free Report) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (REGN - Free Report) .

PBE's top 10 holdings account for about 47.19% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF has added about 3.19% so far, and it's up approximately 11.25% over the last 12 months (as of 07/12/2024). PBE has traded between $52.52 and $67.91 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.81 and standard deviation of 23.51% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 32 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI - Free Report) tracks S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB - Free Report) tracks Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has $7.64 billion in assets, iShares Biotechnology ETF has $7.70 billion. XBI has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IBB charges 0.45%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs.

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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