Looking for broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market? You should consider the State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on January 26, 2011.
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.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 1, placing it in top 6%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $286.8 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. XTN seeks to match the performance of the S&P Transportation Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Transportation Select Industry Index represents the transportation segment of the S&P Total Market Index.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
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 0.77%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Arcbest Corp (ARCB) accounts for about 3.5% of total assets, followed by Southwest Airlines Co (LUV) and Xpo Inc (XPO).
The top 10 holdings account for about 30.21% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 1.75% and it's up approximately 22.15% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 03/11/2026), respectively. XTN has traded between $62.77 and $106.1 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.35 and standard deviation of 25.02% 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.
Alternatives
State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, XTN is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (FTXR) tracks Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index and the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT) tracks Dow Jones Transportation Average Index. First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF has $843.70 million in assets, iShares U.S. Transportation ETF has $1.13 billion. FTXR has an expense ratio of 0.6%, and IYT charges 0.38%.
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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State Street SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (XTN): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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