State Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF
$240.25−1.25 (−0.52%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.35%
- Fund size
- $5.8B
- 1Y return
- +6.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.17%
- Holdings
- 50
- Volume · 30D
- 0.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $243.58
- 52W range
The ETF.net XAR Grade
Score 80 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 92Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 39Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 90Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 85Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 93Category rank
Our read on XAR
AMost defense funds hand the wheel to a handful of giant primes. XAR spreads its roughly 50 aerospace and defense names close to equal weight, so a mid cap parts maker carries about the same load as a household-name contractor.
The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index.
Why people hold it
- Modified equal weighting keeps any single prime contractor from running the show: large, mid and small cap names carry similar weight in the index.ssga.com
- Costs 0.35% a year, under the 0.50% typical of defense funds and a hair below ITA at 0.37%. Cheap for a targeted industry bet.
- Trading since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, it is one of the most established and best-built ways to own the US aerospace and defense industry.
- About 50 US-listed aerospace and defense stocks pulled from the S&P Total Market Index, so suppliers and smaller specialists sit alongside the famous names.ssga.com
Worth knowing
- One industry, tied to government budgets and order cycles. Expect bigger swings than a broad market fund.
- Equal weighting leans on smaller suppliers, which cuts both ways: less of the fund rides the megacap primes when those lead.ssga.com
- Distributions land quarterly, but this is an industry growth basket, not an income vehicle.
XAR Holdings
- Stocks
- 50
- 30%
- AVAV
Geography
- United States100.00%
XAR Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
XAR$10,618
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | XAR |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +0.2% |
| 1 month | −11.4% |
| 3 months | −13.0% |
| 1 year | +6.2% |
| 3 years | +30.1% |
| 5 years | +16.0% |
| 10 years | +16.2% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | XAR |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +0.2% | |
| 2025 | +46.1% | |
| 2024 | +23.3% | |
| 2023 | +23.8% | |
| 2022 | −5.0% | |
| 2021 | +2.3% | |
| 2020 | +6.2% |
XAR in the news
XAR Dividends
- 0.17%
- $0.42
- $0.13 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2026 | Pays Sep 23, 2026 | $0.13 |
| Jun 22, 2026 | Jun 24, 2026 | $0.06 |
| Mar 23, 2026 | Mar 25, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Dec 22, 2025 | Dec 24, 2025 | $0.12 |
| Sep 22, 2025 | Sep 24, 2025 | $0.52 |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Jun 25, 2025 | $0.13 |
| Mar 24, 2025 | Mar 26, 2025 | $0.19 |
| Dec 23, 2024 | Dec 26, 2024 | $0.57 |
| Sep 23, 2024 | Sep 25, 2024 | $0.21 |
| Jun 24, 2024 | Jun 26, 2024 | $0.16 |
| Mar 18, 2024 | Mar 21, 2024 | $0.16 |
| Dec 18, 2023 | Dec 21, 2023 | $0.35 |
XAR Risk
- 22.7%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 1.04
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −27.6%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.26
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
XAR Cost
0.35%
XAR0.35%
- The middle half of Defense & Aerospace funds
- Median 0.50%
No Defense & Aerospace fund charges less.