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Is SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI - Free Report) made its debut on 01/31/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by State Street Global Advisors, and has been able to amass over $5.75 billion, which makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index represents the biotechnology sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Biotech Index is a modified equal weight index.

Cost & Other Expenses

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.

With one of the least expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.35%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.15%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector - about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Neurocrine Biosciences Inc (NBIX - Free Report) accounts for about 2.73% of total assets, followed by Abbvie Inc (ABBV - Free Report) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc (ALNY - Free Report) .

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 24.88% of XBI's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XBI has lost about -4.36%, and is down about -14.36% in the last one year (as of 03/05/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $82.22 and $104.18.

XBI has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 32.95% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 143 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Biotech ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF (FBT - Free Report) tracks NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB - Free Report) tracks Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF has $1.14 billion in assets, iShares Biotechnology ETF has $6.21 billion. FBT has an expense ratio of 0.56% and IBB charges 0.45%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs.

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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