Designed to provide broad exposure to the Healthcare - Biotech segment of the equity market, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 01/31/2006.
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Healthcare - Biotech is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 3, placing it in top 25%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $6.34 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Biotech segment of the equity market. XBI seeks to match the performance of the S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index represents the biotechnology 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 Biotech Index is a modified equal weight index.
Costs
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
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 0.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector--about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Neurocrine Biosciences Inc (NBIX) accounts for about 2.57% of total assets, followed by Abbvie Inc (ABBV) and Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD).
The top 10 holdings account for about 23.64% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has gained about 3.86% so far, and it's up approximately 7.14% over the last 12 months (as of 02/03/2025). XBI has traded between $82.22 and $104.18 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.93 and standard deviation of 33.48% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 144 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, XBI is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF (FBT) tracks NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) tracks Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF has $1.21 billion in assets, iShares Biotechnology ETF has $6.52 billion. FBT has an expense ratio of 0.56% and IBB charges 0.45%.
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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Get it free >>SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI): ETF Research Reports
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB): ETF Research Reports
Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NBIX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) : Free Stock Analysis Report
First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology ETF (FBT): ETF Research Reports
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
