Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT)?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Looking for broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market? You should consider the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 10/06/2003.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping 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 Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $766.29 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. IYT seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Transportation Select Industry FMC Capped Index (USD) measures the performance of companies from the Industrial Transportation, Airline and General Industrial Services industries of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.39%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.15%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, United Parcel Service Inc Class B (UPS - Free Report) accounts for about 19.03% of total assets, followed by Union Pacific Corp (UNP - Free Report) and Csx Corp (CSX - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 71.78% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -17.51% so far this year and is down about -16.64% in the last one year (as of 11/21/2022). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $196.56 and $279.97.

The ETF has a beta of 1.18 and standard deviation of 29.55% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 53 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Transportation 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, IYT is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN - Free Report) tracks S&P Transportation Select Industry Index and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS - Free Report) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index. SPDR S&P Transportation ETF has $445.36 million in assets, U.S. Global Jets ETF has $2.22 billion. XTN has an expense ratio of 0.35% 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.

Published in