Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI)?

The iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI) was launched on 05/01/2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Healthcare - Medical Devices segment of the equity market.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Healthcare - Medical Devices is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 4, placing it in top 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $4.27 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Medical Devices segment of the equity market. IHI seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Medical Equipment Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Medical Equipment Index measures the performance of the medical equipment sector of the U.S. equity market.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.48%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many 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, Abbott Laboratories (ABT) accounts for about 18.86% of total assets, followed by Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) and Boston Scientific Corp (BSX).

The top 10 holdings account for about 76.61% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, IHI has lost about -3.15%, and is down about -0.66% in the last one year (as of 04/14/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $54.27 and $65.09.

The ETF has a beta of 0.94 and standard deviation of 19.78% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 52 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

IShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IHI is an outstanding 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 Indxx Medical Devices ETF (MDEV) tracks INDXX MEDICAL DEVICES INDEX and the SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF (XHE) tracks S&P Health Care Equipment Select Industry Index. First Trust Indxx Medical Devices ETF has $1.88 million in assets, SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF has $162.80 million. MDEV has an expense ratio of 0.70% and XHE charges 0.35%.

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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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