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Is State Street SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The State Street SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB - Free Report) made its debut on 01/31/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Industrials ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by State Street Investment Management. XHB has been able to amass assets over $1.56 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Industrials ETFs. Before fees and expenses, XHB seeks to match the performance of the S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index.

The S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index represents the homebuilding 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 Homebuilders Index is a modified equal weight index.

Cost & Other Expenses

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

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.35% for this ETF, which makes it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.08%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

For XHB, it has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector --about 62.3% of the portfolio --while Industrials and Energy round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Sharkninja Inc (SN) accounts for about 4.14% of the fund's total assets, followed by Allegion Plc (ALLE) and Masco Corp (MAS).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 36.85% of XHB's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, XHB has lost about -0.71%, and is down about -3.38% in the last one year (as of 11/13/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $92.84 and $121.36.

XHB has a beta of 1.23 and standard deviation of 27.15% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 36 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .

Alternatives

State Street SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

Invesco Building & Construction ETF(PKB) tracks Dynamic Building & Construction Intellidex Index The fund has $251.22 million in assets. PKB has an expense ratio of 0.57%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Industrials 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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