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Should You Invest in the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR)?

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Launched on 03/10/2014, the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market.

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also 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 - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 13, placing it in bottom 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $494.09 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. AIRR seeks to match the performance of the Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance Index before fees and expenses.

The Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance Index is measures the performance of small and mid cap US companies in the industrial and community banking sectors.

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 0.70%, making it one of the most expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.28%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. 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 89% of the portfolio, followed by Financials.

Looking at individual holdings, Sterling Infrastructure Inc. (STRL - Free Report) accounts for about 4.43% of total assets, followed by Array Technologies, Inc. (ARRY - Free Report) and Emcor Group, Inc. (EME - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 36.66% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF return is roughly 9.99% so far, and was up about 5.19% over the last 12 months (as of 11/13/2023). AIRR has traded between $43.35 and $55.56 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.25 and standard deviation of 24.59% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 50 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance 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, AIRR is a good 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.

Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI - Free Report) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Industrials ETF has $3.80 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $14.11 billion. VIS has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLI charges 0.10%.

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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