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Is State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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Making its debut on 06/19/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
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.
These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by State Street Investment Management. XRT has been able to amass assets over $265.25 million, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Consumer Discretionary ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index.
The S&P Retail Select Industry Index represents the retail sub-industry portion of the S&P TMI. 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 Retail Index is a modified equal weight index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
XRT's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.81%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.
For XRT, it has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector --about 79.2% of the portfolio --while Consumer Staples and Energy round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Abercrombie + Fitch Co Cl A (ANF) accounts for about 2.38% of the fund's total assets, followed by Marinemax Inc (HZO) and Grocery Outlet Holding Corp (GO).
XRT's top 10 holdings account for about 18.4% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -2.43% and is down about -4.75% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/18/2026), respectively. XRT has traded between $77.28 and $92.35 during this last 52-week period.
XRT has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 22.22% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 77 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY) tracks EQM Online Retail Index and the VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) tracks MVIS US Listed Retail 25 Index. Amplify Online Retail ETF has $118.83 million in assets, VanEck Retail ETF has $238.52 million. IBUY has an expense ratio of 0.65% and RTH changes 0.35%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Consumer Discretionary 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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Is State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Making its debut on 06/19/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
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.
These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by State Street Investment Management. XRT has been able to amass assets over $265.25 million, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Consumer Discretionary ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index.
The S&P Retail Select Industry Index represents the retail sub-industry portion of the S&P TMI. 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 Retail Index is a modified equal weight index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
XRT's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.81%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.
For XRT, it has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector --about 79.2% of the portfolio --while Consumer Staples and Energy round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Abercrombie + Fitch Co Cl A (ANF) accounts for about 2.38% of the fund's total assets, followed by Marinemax Inc (HZO) and Grocery Outlet Holding Corp (GO).
XRT's top 10 holdings account for about 18.4% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -2.43% and is down about -4.75% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/18/2026), respectively. XRT has traded between $77.28 and $92.35 during this last 52-week period.
XRT has a beta of 1.15 and standard deviation of 22.22% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 77 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY) tracks EQM Online Retail Index and the VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) tracks MVIS US Listed Retail 25 Index. Amplify Online Retail ETF has $118.83 million in assets, VanEck Retail ETF has $238.52 million. IBUY has an expense ratio of 0.65% and RTH changes 0.35%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Consumer Discretionary 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.