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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD)?

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Launched on 01/31/2006, the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Technology - Semiconductors 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. Technology - Semiconductors 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 $1.55 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the equity market. XSD seeks to match the performance of the S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Semiconductor Select Industry Index represents the Semiconductor sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Semiconductor Index is a modified equal weight index.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

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 0.10%.

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 Information Technology sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Sunpower Corporation accounts for about 3.96% of total assets, followed by Wolfspeed Inc (WOLF - Free Report) and Silicon Laboratories Inc. (SLAB - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 32.37% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF has lost about -6.73% so far, and is up roughly 34.31% over the last 12 months (as of 01/06/2022). XSD has traded between $158.58 and $248.86 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.21 and standard deviation of 35.95% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 42 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Semiconductor 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, XSD is a great 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.

VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH - Free Report) tracks MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX - Free Report) tracks PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector Index. VanEck Semiconductor ETF has $7.30 billion in assets, iShares Semiconductor ETF has $9.85 billion. SMH has an expense ratio of 0.35% and SOXX charges 0.43%.

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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