Launched on 06/23/2005, the Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF (PBE) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Health Care 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.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
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.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $226.73 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. PBE, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Dynamic Biotechnology & Genome Intellidex Index.
The Dynamic Biotech & Genome Intellidex Index seeks to provide capital appreciation by thoroughly evaluating companies based on a variety of investment merit criteria, including price momentum, earnings momentum, quality, management action, and value.
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.
Annual operating expenses for PBE are 0.58%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.55%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector - about 99.8% of the portfolio.
When you look at individual holdings, Biogen Inc (BIIB) accounts for about 5.06% of the fund's total assets, followed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX) and Incyte Corp (INCY).
The top 10 holdings account for about 46.21% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 8.84% and it's up approximately 3.71% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/03/2025), respectively. PBE has traded between $56.01 and $72.24 during this last 52-week period.
PBE has a beta of 0.79 and standard deviation of 20.59% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 32 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .
Alternatives
Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) tracks S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index and the iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) tracks Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has $5.83 billion in assets, iShares Biotechnology ETF has $6.14 billion. XBI has an expense ratio of 0.35% and IBB changes 0.44%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care 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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Invesco Biotechnology & Genome ETF (PBE): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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