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Should You Invest in the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN)?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market? You should consider the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 01/26/2011.

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.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 16, placing it in bottom 0%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $203.56 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. XTN seeks to match the performance of the S&P Transportation Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Transportation Select Industry Index represents the transportation segment of the S&P Total Market 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 0.70%.

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 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Rxo Inc (RXO - Free Report) accounts for about 2.68% of total assets, followed by Matson Inc (MATX - Free Report) and Csx Corp (CSX - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 26.28% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 19.95% and was up about 8.77% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 12/05/2023), respectively. XTN has traded between $65.85 and $88.03 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.36 and standard deviation of 25.47% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 45 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P 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, XTN is an excellent 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.

IShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones Transportation Average Index and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS - Free Report) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index. IShares U.S. Transportation ETF has $875.92 million in assets, U.S. Global Jets ETF has $1.69 billion. IYT has an expense ratio of 0.40% 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.

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