FIW vs PIO

FIWBFirst Trust Water ETF

PIODInvesco Global Water ETF

In short

FIW Water is the least glamorous essential business on earth, and FIW has been buying it since 2007: roughly 40 companies earning real revenue from drinking water and wastewater, at a fee below most of the water field.

PIO Invesco's passport-carrying water fund: about 40 companies pulled from a Nasdaq global water index, running since 2007. The overseas counterpart to the US-focused water ETFs sitting next to it on Invesco's shelf.

Stated mandate

FIW The fund seeks returns that generally track the pre-expense price and yield of the ISE Clean Edge WaterTM Index, which covers listed companies deriving substantial revenue from potable and wastewater activities.

PIO The fund seeks to track the performance of the Nasdaq OMX Global Water Index before fees and expenses and generally invests at least 90% of its assets in securities represented by that index.

Why people hold it

• FIW Launched in 2007, it predates most of the water theme. Its track record covers a financial crisis and a rate shock, not just one friendly stretch of market.
• 0.50% a year undercuts the two best-known rivals in the space, Invesco's CGW (0.58%) and PHO (0.59%), and sits below the water cohort's median fee.
• Narrow by design: the ISE Clean Edge Water Index holds companies drawing substantial revenue from potable and wastewater work, so about 40 names instead of a loose infrastructure grab bag.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund in a thin category, and one of the stronger builds in its water peer group on cost, tradability and portfolio quality. It pays quarterly.

• PIO A genuinely global mandate. It tracks the Nasdaq OMX Global Water Index and keeps at least 90% of assets in that index's names, so the water story isn't limited to US utilities and pipe makers.invesco.com
• Launched in 2007, back when water was a fringe theme. It has run through multiple market cycles rather than arriving with the latest thematic wave.
• Rules-based and compact: roughly 40 holdings chosen by the index, not by a manager's conviction, with distributions paid quarterly.

Worth knowing

• FIW Concentration cuts both ways: about 40 stocks in one theme swing harder than a broad market fund, and water can drift out of favor for years at a time.
• Cheap for water, not cheap outright. 0.50% is many times what a plain broad-market index fund charges for the same equity exposure wrapper.
• Trading is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads can widen when markets move fast. Income arrives quarterly, not monthly.

• PIO At 0.75%, it charges more than the typical water fund. Invesco's own CGW runs 0.58% and First Trust's FIW 0.50%, both chasing similar plumbing.
• Thinly traded compared with the bigger names in the category, which tends to mean wider spreads at the moment you actually transact.
• About 40 stocks spread across global markets: individual names carry real weight, and foreign-listed holdings bring currency movement along for the ride.

Full FIW profile⁠

Full PIO profile⁠