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Should You Invest in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV)?

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Launched on 07/10/2001, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Technology - Software 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. Technology - Software is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 2, placing it in top 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $10.06 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Software segment of the equity market. IGV seeks to match the performance of the S&P North American Technology-Software Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P North American Expanded Technology Software Index comprises of North American equities in the software industry and select North American equities from interactive home entertainment and interactive media and services industries.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.41%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

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 Information Technology sector--about 97.20% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Salesforce Inc (CRM - Free Report) accounts for about 9.27% of total assets, followed by Oracle Corp (ORCL - Free Report) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 57.68% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 29.13% and is up roughly 34.71% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 12/02/2024), respectively. IGV has traded between $77.31 and $106.19 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.06 and standard deviation of 27.97% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 118 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector 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, IGV is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT - Free Report) tracks STOXX WORLD AC NEXGEN SOFTWARE DEV ID and the SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW - Free Report) tracks S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index. Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF has $416.33 million in assets, SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF has $452.47 million. IGPT has an expense ratio of 0.60% and XSW 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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