Designed to provide broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market, the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR Quick QuoteAIRR - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on March 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 4, placing it in top 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $5.69 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

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.7%, making it one of the most expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.22%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 93.6% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Comfort Systems Usa, Inc. (FIX) accounts for about 3.62% of total assets, followed by C.h. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW) and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (KTOS).

The top 10 holdings account for about 32.04% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 26.72% and it's up approximately 30.99% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/08/2025), respectively. AIRR has traded between $61.92 and $98.3 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.29 and standard deviation of 24.61% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 53 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) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Industrials ETF has $6.32 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $23.95 billion. VIS has an expense ratio of 0.09%, and XLI charges 0.08%.

Bottom Line

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