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Is SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF (XHE) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 01/26/2011, the SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF (XHE - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by State Street Global Advisors. XHE has been able to amass assets over $455.98 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. XHE, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P Health Care Equipment Select Industry Index.

The S&P Health Care Equipment Select Industry Index represents the health care equipment segment of the S&P Total Market Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

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 XHE are 0.35%, which makes it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.02%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

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

Looking at individual holdings, Tandem Diabetes Care Inc (TNDM - Free Report) accounts for about 1.84% of total assets, followed by Neogen Corp (NEOG - Free Report) and Idexx Laboratories Inc (IDXX - Free Report) .

XHE's top 10 holdings account for about 17.48% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -5.18% and is down about -9.79% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 08/29/2023), respectively. XHE has traded between $81.63 and $101.18 during this last 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.93 and standard deviation of 25.36% for the trailing three-year period, which makes XHE a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 76 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

First Trust Indxx Medical Devices ETF (MDEV - Free Report) tracks INDXX GLOBAL MEDICAL EQUIPMENT INDEX and the iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Medical Equipment Index. First Trust Indxx Medical Devices ETF has $1.93 million in assets, iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF has $5.59 billion. MDEV has an expense ratio of 0.70% and IHI charges 0.40%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs.

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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