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Should You Invest in the VanEck Oil Services ETF (OIH)?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Energy - Equipment and services segment of the equity market? You should consider the VanEck Oil Services ETF (OIH - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 12/20/2011.

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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Energy - Equipment and services 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 Van Eck. It has amassed assets over $2.24 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Equipment and services segment of the equity market. OIH seeks to match the performance of the MVIS U.S. Listed Oil Services 25 Index before fees and expenses.

The MVIS U.S. Listed Oil Services 25 Index tracks the overall performance of U.S.-listed companies involved in oil services to the upstream oil sector, which include oil equipment, oil services, or oil drilling.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.92%.

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 Energy sector--about 94.40% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Schlumberger Nv (SLB - Free Report) accounts for about 19.91% of total assets, followed by Halliburton Co (HAL - Free Report) and Baker Hughes Co (BKR - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 72.85% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 3.16% so far this year and is up roughly 5.85% in the last one year (as of 11/28/2023). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $246.78 and $362.30.

The ETF has a beta of 1.99 and standard deviation of 42.54% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 27 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

VanEck Oil Services ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, OIH is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Energy ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

IShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF (IEZ - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Equipment & Services Index and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (XES - Free Report) tracks S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services Select Industry Index. IShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF has $347.26 million in assets, SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF has $406.49 million. IEZ has an expense ratio of 0.40% and XES charges 0.35%.

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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