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

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market, look no further than the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 03/10/2014.

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.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Industrials - Broad 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 First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $2.63 billion, making it one of the larger 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 0.15%.

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 Industrials sector--about 88% of the portfolio. Financials and Utilities round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Mueller Industries, Inc. (MLI - Free Report) accounts for about 3.39% of total assets, followed by Granite Construction Incorporated (GVA - Free Report) and Bwx Technologies, Inc. (BWXT - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 31.02% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, AIRR has added about 47.40%, and it's up approximately 66.57% in the last one year (as of 11/25/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $50.25 and $85.54.

The ETF has a beta of 1.22 and standard deviation of 24.69% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 56 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance 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, AIRR is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

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 $5.97 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $21.85 billion. VIS has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLI charges 0.09%.

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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