Thanks to improving house and jobs data, a pair of the
best-performing sector ETFs in 2012 have been those with heavy
exposure to the residential real estate market. Through 10 months
of trading, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction Index
Fund (NYSE:
ITB
) and the the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE:
XHB
) have blown other high-flying sectors.
The $1.5 billion iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction
Index Fund has surged 78 percent this year, including paid
dividends. The $1.9 billion SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF has
jumped 58 percent. Said another way, if one chooses to ignore ITB
and that ETF's amazing run, there is still no ignoring some of
the other marquee ETFs XHB has outperformed.
XHB has offered nearly quadruple the gains of the SPDR S&P
500 (NYSE:
SPY
). High-flying biotech ETFs have been no match for XHB and ITB,
either. XHB has done better than twice as well as the SPDR
S&P Biotech ETF (NYSE:
XBI
) this year.
XHB is up nearly five times as much as the iShares Dow Jones
U.S. Technology Sector Index Fund (NYSE:
IYW
), the ETF with the largest weight to Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL
). The oft-overlooked PowerShares Dynamic Building &
Construction Portfolio (NYSE:
PKB
) has even gotten in on the act with a 39.3 percent year-to-date
gain.
All that good cheer has ITB and XHB looking quite pricey on a
valuation basis. Technology is often the sector most pointed as
being home to elevated price-to-earnings and other valuation
metrics. A look at IYW shows that ETF has
a P/E ratio of 19 and a price-to-book ratio of
4.77
.
ITB, an ETF that allocates over 28 percent of its weight to
Lennar (NYSE:
LEN
), Pulte (NYSE:
PHM
) and DR Horton (NYSE:
DHI
), has a P/E ratio north of 30. That is even above the P/E on the
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (NYSE:
FDN
), an ETF that devotes 17.4 percent of its weight to Google
(NASDAQ:
GOOG
) and Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN
).
The P/E ratios for SPDRs are calculated differently than on
iShares ETFs, but ITB still sports a P/E ratio of almost 21 and
price-to-book ratio of 2.66. That ETF has a price/cash flow ratio
of nearly 15,
according to State Street data
.
It may be stretched valuations that has prompted some recent
bearish options activity in the two ETFs as Street One Financial
highlighted in a recent note.
"It is feasible that the recent bearish looking speculation in
ITB options as well as in related ETF XHB, is perhaps a
'valuation call' by fundamentally focused investors that are
looking for a potential correction in the
Homebuilders/Construction sector. It will be interesting to watch
funds such as these heading into the final weeks of the trading
year of 2012 to see if investor behavior is altered at all in
terms of a possible acceleration of activity given any year end
tax considerations," said Street One in the note.
With ITB trading around $21, open interest in the November $21
puts is almost 1,200 contracts while open interest in the
November $20 puts is over 2,250 contracts,
according to Options Monster data
.
XHB is flirting with $27, so can be perceived as interesting
that open interest in the November $24 puts is over 32,600
contracts and open interest in the November $25 puts is nearly
10,000 contracts, according to Options Monster.
For more on high P/E ETFs, click
here
.
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