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Should You Invest in the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE)?

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Launched on 03/06/2017, the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Utilities - Infrastructure 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 also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Utilities - Infrastructure 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 Global X Management. It has amassed assets over $4.90 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market. PAVE seeks to match the performance of the INDXX U.S. Infrastructure Development Index before fees and expenses.

The INDXX U.S. Infrastructure Development Index measure the performance of U.S. listed companies that provide exposure to domestic infrastructure development, including companies involved in construction and engineering; production of infrastructure raw materials, composites and products; industrial transportation; and producers/distributors of heavy construction equipment.

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 0.47%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.76%.

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 72.70% of the portfolio. Materials and Utilities round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Eaton Corp Plc (ETN - Free Report) accounts for about 4.04% of total assets, followed by Parker Hannifin Corp (PH - Free Report) and Trane Technologies Plc (TT - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 31.48% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 10.38% and was up about 12.87% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 11/02/2023), respectively. PAVE has traded between $25.33 and $32.61 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.28 and standard deviation of 22.78% for the trailing three-year period. With about 100 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development 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, PAVE is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

IShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA - Free Report) tracks NYSE FACTSET U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX and the iShares Global Infrastructure ETF (IGF - Free Report) tracks S&P Global Infrastructure Index. IShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF has $1.99 billion in assets, iShares Global Infrastructure ETF has $3.31 billion. IFRA has an expense ratio of 0.30% and IGF charges 0.41%.

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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