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Should You Invest in the Fidelity MSCI Materials Index ETF (FMAT)?

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Launched on 10/21/2013, the Fidelity MSCI Materials Index ETF (FMAT - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Materials - 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. Materials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 14, placing it in bottom 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Fidelity. It has amassed assets over $221.20 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Materials - Broad segment of the equity market. FMAT seeks to match the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Materials Index before fees and expenses.

MSCI USA IMI Materials Index represents the performance of the materials sector in the U.S. equity market.

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 0.08%, making it the least expensive product in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2%.

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 Materials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Linde Plc (LIN - Free Report) accounts for about 13.21% of total assets, followed by Air Products + Chemicals Inc (APD - Free Report) and Ecolab Inc (ECL - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 51.36% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Fidelity MSCI Materials Index ETF has lost about -5.24% so far, and was up about 3.68% over the last 12 months (as of 02/25/2020). FMAT has traded between $29.48 and $34.33 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.25 and standard deviation of 15.68% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 124 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Fidelity MSCI Materials Index ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, FMAT is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Materials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB - Free Report) tracks Materials Select Sector Index and the FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR - Free Report) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index. Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $3.94 B in assets, FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $4.91 B. XLB has an expense ratio of 0.13% and GUNR 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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