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Should You Invest in the iShares Global Materials ETF (MXI)?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Materials - Broad segment of the U.S. equity market? You should consider the iShares Global Materials ETF (MXI - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 09/12/2006.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds 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. Materials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 3, placing it in top 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $418.45 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Materials - Broad segment of the U.S. equity market. MXI seeks to match the performance of the S&P Global 1200 Materials Sector Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Global 1200 Materials Sector Index measures the performance of companies that are part of the materials sector of the economy.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.48%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.72%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, Dowdupont Inc accounts for about 7.21% of total assets, followed by Basf N and Bhp Billiton Ltd (BHP - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 33.26% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 2.08% so far this year and is up about 23.57% in the last one year (as of 05/18/2018). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $58.61 and $75.12.

The ETF has a beta of 1.14 and standard deviation of 17.39% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 122 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

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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