Is State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Making its debut on 01/26/2011, smart beta exchange traded fund State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN) provides investors broad exposure to the Industrials 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.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.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 & IndexXTN is managed by State Street Investment Management, and this fund has amassed over $216.07 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Industrials ETFs. Before fees and expenses, XTN seeks to match the performance of the S&P Transportation Select Industry Index.The S&P Transportation Select Industry Index represents the transportation segment of the S&P Total Market Index.Cost & Other ExpensesExpense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.Annual operating expenses for XTN are 0.35%, which makes it one of the least expensive products in the space.It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.73%.Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsEven though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.For XTN, it has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector --about 100% of the portfolio.Taking into account individual holdings, Hunt (jb) Transprt Svcs Inc (JBHT) accounts for about 3.29% of the fund's total assets, followed by Kirby Corp (KEX) and Expeditors Intl Wash Inc (EXPD).XTN's top 10 holdings account for about 29.49% of its total assets under management.Performance and RiskYear-to-date, the State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF has gained about 7.25% so far, and was up about 11.05% over the last 12 months (as of 01/12/2026). XTN has traded between $62.77 $97.99 in this past 52-week period. The ETF has a beta of 1.38 and standard deviation of 24.70% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 46 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .AlternativesState Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index and the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT) tracks Dow Jones Transportation Average Index. U.S. Global Jets ETF has $836.38 million in assets, iShares U.S. Transportation ETF has $943.01 million. JETS has an expense ratio of 0.60% and IYT changes 0.38%.Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Industrials ETFsBottom LineTo 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.Boost Your Portfolio with Our Top ETF InsightsZacks' exclusive Fund Newsletter delivers actionable information, top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, straight to your inbox every week.Don’t miss out on this valuable resource. It’s free!Get it now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks