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Should You Invest in the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE)?

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The Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE - Free Report) was launched on 03/06/2017, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Utilities - Infrastructure 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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Utilities - Infrastructure 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 Global X Management. It has amassed assets over $213.73 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market. PAVE seeks to match the performance of the INDXX U.S. Infrastructure Development Index before fees and expenses.

The INDXX U.S. Infrastructure Development Index measure the performance of U.S. listed companies that provide exposure to domestic infrastructure development, including companies involved in construction and engineering; production of infrastructure raw materials, composites and products; industrial transportation; and producers/distributors of heavy construction equipment.

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 0.47%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.57%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. 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 71.20% of the portfolio. Materials and Information Technology round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Fastenal Co (FAST - Free Report) accounts for about 4.31% of total assets, followed by Rockwell Automation Inc (ROK - Free Report) and United Rentals Inc (URI - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 33.84% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -9.89% so far this year and it's up approximately 3.35% in the last one year (as of 08/04/2020). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $10.02 and $17.92.

The ETF has a beta of 1.34 and standard deviation of 29.34% for the trailing three-year period. With about 94 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. PAVE, then, is not a great choice for investors seeking exposure to the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

SPDR SP Global Infrastructure ETF (GII - Free Report) tracks S&P Global Infrastructure Index and the iShares Global Infrastructure ETF (IGF - Free Report) tracks S&P Global Infrastructure Index. SPDR SP Global Infrastructure ETF has $346.42 million in assets, iShares Global Infrastructure ETF has $3.15 billion. GII has an expense ratio of 0.40% and IGF charges 0.46%.

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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