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

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many 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 12, placing it in bottom 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $3.36 billion, making it one of the largest 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

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

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.18%.

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 86.40% of the portfolio. Financials and Utilities round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Core & Main, Inc. (class A) (CNM Quick QuoteCNM - Free Report) accounts for about 3.33% of total assets, followed by Mueller Industries, Inc. (MLI Quick QuoteMLI - Free Report) and Granite Construction Incorporated (GVA Quick QuoteGVA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 31.06% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 2.15% and is up about 39.67% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 01/30/2025), respectively. AIRR has traded between $56.03 and $86.09 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.26 and standard deviation of 24.56% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 55 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 an excellent 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 Quick QuoteVIS - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI Quick QuoteXLI - Free Report) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Industrials ETF has $5.85 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $21.58 billion. VIS has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLI charges 0.09%.

Bottom Line

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