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Should You Invest in the State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP)?

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Looking for broad exposure to the Energy - Exploration segment of the equity market? You should consider the State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on June 19, 2006.

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. Energy - Exploration 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 State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $4.12 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Exploration segment of the equity market. XOP seeks to match the performance of the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index represents the oil and gas exploration and production sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. 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 Oil & Gas Exploration Index is a modified equal weight index.

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 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.71%.

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 Energy sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Pbf Energy Inc Class A (PBF) accounts for about 3.84% of total assets, followed by Hf Sinclair Corp (DINO) and Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC).

The top 10 holdings account for about 30.78% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 46.42% so far this year and is up about 39.43% in the last one year (as of 09/24/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $123.29 and $199.7.

The ETF has a beta of 0.54 and standard deviation of 27.87% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 54 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, XOP is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Energy ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

Portfolio Building Block Integrated Oil & Gas and Exp and Prod Index ETF (PBOG) tracks BITA GLOBAL OIL & GAS SELECT INDEX and the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (IEO) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index. Portfolio Building Block Integrated Oil & Gas and Exp and Prod Index ETF has $464.70 million in assets, iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF has $742.87 million. PBOG has an expense ratio of 0.13%, and IEO charges 0.37%.

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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