Designed to provide broad exposure to the Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETFs category of the market, the Inspire Corporate Bond ETF (IBD) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 07/10/2017.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
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.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Inspire. IBD has been able to amass assets over $380.93 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETFs. Before fees and expenses, IBD seeks to match the performance of the Inspire Corporate Bond Impact Equal Weight Index.
The Inspire Corporate Bond Impact Equal Weight Index is comprised of 250 investment grade, intermediate term corporate bonds issued by some of the most inspiring large cap blue chip companies in the United States.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.43% for this ETF, which makes it one of the most expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.25%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer 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.
When you look at individual holdings, Trimble Inc 4.9 06/15/28 (896239AC4) accounts for about 1.85% of the fund's total assets, followed by Amphenol Corp. 4.35 06/01/29 (032095AH4) and Republic Services Inc. 3.95 05/15/28 (760759AT7).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 18.27% of IBD's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the Inspire Corporate Bond ETF has added roughly 2.50% so far, and was up about 6.05% over the last 12 months (as of 05/29/2025). IBD has traded between $23.16 and $24.29 in this past 52-week period.
IBD has a beta of 0.20 and standard deviation of 6.29% for the trailing three-year period. With about 249 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Inspire Corporate Bond ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV) tracks FTSE US ALL CAP CHOICE INDEX and the iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU) tracks MSCI USA ESG Focus Index. Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF has $10.12 billion in assets, iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF has $13.30 billion. ESGV has an expense ratio of 0.09% and ESGU charges 0.15%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Investment Grade Corporate Bond 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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Inspire Corporate Bond ETF (IBD): ETF Research Reports iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU): ETF Research Reports Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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