Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT)?

Read MoreHide Full Article

If you're interested in broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market, look no further than the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 10/06/2003.

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.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 15, placing it in bottom 6%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $604.18 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. IYT seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Transportation Select Industry FMC Capped Index (USD) measures the performance of companies from the Industrial Transportation, Airline and General Industrial Services industries of the U.S. equity market.

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 0.40%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.22%.

Sector Exposure and 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.

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

Looking at individual holdings, Union Pacific Corp (UNP - Free Report) accounts for about 18.83% of total assets, followed by Uber Technologies Inc (UBER - Free Report) and United Parcel Service Inc Class B (UPS - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 73.76% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 2.56% and was up about 9.11% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 08/26/2024), respectively. IYT has traded between $52.80 and $70.61 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.20 and standard deviation of 21.66% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 49 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Transportation 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, IYT is an outstanding 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.

SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN - Free Report) tracks S&P Transportation Select Industry Index and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS - Free Report) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index. SPDR S&P Transportation ETF has $204.58 million in assets, U.S. Global Jets ETF has $1.01 billion. XTN has an expense ratio of 0.35% and JETS charges 0.60%.

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.

Published in