Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should You Invest in the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI)?

Read MoreHide Full Article

The Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI - Free Report) was launched on 12/16/1998, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market.

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.

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 12, placing it in bottom 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $19.62 billion, making it the largest ETF attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. XLI seeks to match the performance of the Industrial Select Sector Index before fees and expenses.

The Industrial Select Sector Index includes companies from the following industries: industrial conglomerates; aerospace & defense; machinery; air freight & logistics; road & rail; commercial services & supplies; electrical equipment; construction & engineering; building products; airlines; and trading companies & distributors.

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 0.09%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.36%.

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 Industrials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, General Electric Co (GE - Free Report) accounts for about 4.63% of total assets, followed by Caterpillar Inc (CAT - Free Report) and Rtx Corp (RTX - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 35.61% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has added roughly 19.90% so far, and is up about 35.41% over the last 12 months (as of 10/01/2024). XLI has traded between $96.44 and $135.44 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.07 and standard deviation of 17.08% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 81 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Industrial Select Sector SPDR 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, XLI is a great 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 Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index. First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF has $1.99 billion in assets, Vanguard Industrials ETF has $5.57 billion. FXR has an expense ratio of 0.61% and VIS 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.

Published in