Looking for broad exposure to the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense segment of the equity market? You should consider the Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF (PPA Quick QuotePPA - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on October 26, 2005.

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.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Aerospace & Defense is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $8.02 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense segment of the equity market. PPA seeks to match the performance of the SPADE Defense Index before fees and expenses.

The SPADE Defense Index is comprised of approximately 50 U.S. companies whose shares are listed on a U.S. Exchange. These are companies that are principally engaged in the research, development, manufacture, operation and support of defense, military, homeland security and space operations.

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 0.58%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.39%.

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 92.9% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Boeing Co/the (BA) accounts for about 8.21% of total assets, followed by Rtx Corp (RTX) and General Electric Co (GE).

The top 10 holdings account for about 57.51% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 8.33% and is up roughly 32.91% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 05/13/2026), respectively. PPA has traded between $128.26 and $185.59 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.72 and standard deviation of 17.36% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 62 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco Aerospace & Defense 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, PPA 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.

Global X Defense Tech ETF (SHLD) tracks GLOBAL X DEFENSE TECH INDEX and the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index. Global X Defense Tech ETF has $7.70 billion in assets, iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF has $13.91 billion. SHLD has an expense ratio of 0.5%, and ITA charges 0.38%.

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.