Making its debut on 09/25/2000, smart beta exchange traded fund SPDR NYSE Technology ETF XNTK provides investors broad exposure to the Technology ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
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 Global Advisors, and has been able to amass over $782.05 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Technology ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the NYSE Technology Index before fees and expenses.
The NYSE Technology Index is composed of 35 leading U.S.-listed technology-related companies.
Cost & Other Expenses
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund’s return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
XNTK’s 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.33%.
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.
Representing 65.80% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Consumer Discretionary and Telecom round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Nvidia Corp NVDA accounts for about 4.86% of the fund’s total assets, followed by Micron Technology Inc
MU and Meta Platforms Inc Class A
META.
XNTK’s top 10 holdings account for about 36.12% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 10.39% so far this year and was up about 52.68% in the last one year (as of 05/15/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $120.64 and $184.73.
The fund has a beta of 1.24 and standard deviation of 28.04% for the trailing three-year period. With about 37 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
SPDR NYSE Technology ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF XLK tracks Technology Select Sector Index and the Vanguard Information Technology ETF
VGT tracks MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 Index. Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF has $65.29 billion in assets, Vanguard Information Technology ETF has $66.25 billion. XLK has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VGT charges 0.10%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Technology 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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