FTXR vs IYT

FTXRCFirst Trust Nasdaq Transportation ETF

IYTBiShares U.S. Transportation ETF

In short

FTXR Transportation with a screen on top. FTXR holds about 40 US names that move goods and people (rails, truckers, airlines, parcel), ranked on momentum and profitability instead of sheer size.

IYT The original transports ETF: listed in 2003, tied to the Dow Jones Transportation Average until 2021, now tracking a capped S&P index of roughly 40 railroads, truckers, airlines and freight names.

Stated mandate

FTXR The fund seeks to generally track the price and yield of the Nasdaq US Smart TransportationTM Index before fees and expenses. It uses an indexing approach to replicate the index's holdings and weightings.

IYT The fund seeks to track the investment results of an index made up of U.S. transportation-sector equities. It uses representative sampling and generally invests at least 80% of assets in the index's component securities.

Why people hold it

• FTXR The Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index scores companies on momentum and profitability and weights them on those scores, so the biggest firm isn't automatically the biggest position.
• About 40 holdings, all in transportation. A focused read on freight and travel rather than a diluted industrials basket.
• Live since 2016, so it carries a full-cycle record in a niche where narrow funds often don't stick around. Cash goes out quarterly.

• IYT Costs 0.37% a year with no waiver involved, below the median for its eight-fund transportation category and a hair above XTN's 0.35%.
• Trading since October 2003 and still one of the more actively traded funds in its category, a billion-dollar-plus fund in a corner of the market full of small ones.
• The index is float-cap weighted with a cap limiting how large any one stock can get, so a single giant railroad cannot swallow the fund. Large, mid and small caps all qualify.ishares.comspglobal.com
• One ticker for the whole freight complex: railroads, truckers, air freight and delivery, plus passenger airlines and ground transport.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• FTXR The 0.60% fee sits at the middle of the transportation pack but above plain cap-weighted rivals IYT (0.38%) and XTN (0.35%), so the factor screen carries a price.
• One cyclical corner of the economy, roughly 40 stocks deep: fuel, freight rates and shipping demand hit the whole basket at once, so swings run wider than a broad market fund.
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can show up as wider spreads in fast markets.

• IYT About 40 stocks in one cyclical sector. Moves with freight volumes, fuel and shipping rates, so it can wander far from the broad market for long stretches.
• The benchmark switched in July 2021 from the Dow Jones Transportation Average to the current S&P index, so older performance history reflects a different lineup.ishares.com
• Pays quarterly, but this is a sector equity fund: payouts follow whatever the holdings declare, not a set rate.

Full FTXR profile⁠

Full IYT profile⁠