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Should You Invest in the Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS)?

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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 Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 09/23/2004.

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 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 13, placing it in bottom 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $5.40 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. VIS seeks to match the performance of the MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index before fees and expenses.

The MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Industrials 25/50 is made up of stocks of large, mid-size, and small U.S. companies within the industrials sector.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.09%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.22%.

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 Industrials sector--about 99.90% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, General Electric Co (GE - Free Report) accounts for about 4.19% of total assets, followed by Rtx Corp (RTX - Free Report) and Uber Technologies Inc (UBER - Free Report) .

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 6.02% and it's up approximately 13.63% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/03/2025), respectively. VIS has traded between $220.04 and $279.70 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.10 and standard deviation of 18.77% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 385 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vanguard Industrials 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, VIS 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.

First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR - Free Report) tracks Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance Index and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI - Free Report) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF has $3.55 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $21.01 billion. AIRR has an expense ratio of 0.70% and XLI charges 0.08%.

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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