Should You Invest in the Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF (PPA)?

Launched on 10/26/2005, the Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF (PPA) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense 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. Industrials - Aerospace & Defense is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 14, placing it in bottom 13%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $1.31 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Aerospace & Defense segment of the equity market. PPA seeks to match the performance of the SPADE Defense Index before fees and expenses.

The SPADE Defense Index is comprised of approximately 50 U.S. companies whose shares are listed on a U.S. Exchange. These are companies that are principally engaged in the research, development, manufacture, operation and support of defense, military, homeland security and space operations.

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 0.61%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.84%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. 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 94.40% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT) accounts for about 7.74% of total assets, followed by Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC) and Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX).

The top 10 holdings account for about 53.47% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, PPA has lost about -5.34%, and is down about -6.04% in the last one year (as of 07/19/2022). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $66.31 and $79.60.

The ETF has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 27.80% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 53 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Invesco Aerospace & Defense 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, PPA is a reasonable 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.

SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) tracks S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index and the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (ITA) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Aerospace & Defense Index. SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF has $1.22 billion in assets, iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF has $3.61 billion. XAR has an expense ratio of 0.35% and ITA charges 0.42%.

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.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.