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Should You Invest in the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV)?

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Launched on July 10, 2001, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Technology - Software segment of the equity market.

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. Technology - Software is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 1, placing it in top 6%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $13.71 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Software segment of the equity market. IGV seeks to match the performance of the S&P North American Technology-Software Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P North American Expanded Technology Software Index comprises of North American equities in the software industry and select North American equities from interactive home entertainment and interactive media and services industries.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.39%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.02%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector -- about 96.4% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Palantir Technologies Inc Class A (PLTR) accounts for about 8.52% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Oracle Corp (ORCL).

The top 10 holdings account for about 59.83% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has lost about 15.69% so far, and is down about 16.01% over the last 12 months (as of 06/22/2026). IGV has traded between $74.67 and $117.79 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.18 and standard deviation of 25.25% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 117 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector 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, IGV is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF (XSW) tracks S&P Software & Services Select Industry Index and the Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF (IGPT) tracks STOXX WORLD AC NEXGEN SOFTWARE DEV ID. State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF has $385.78 million in assets, Invesco AI and Next Gen Software ETF has $1.32 billion. XSW has an expense ratio of 0.35%, and IGPT charges 0.56%.

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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