FTXR vs XTN

FTXRCFirst Trust Nasdaq Transportation ETF

XTNBState Street SPDR S&P 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.

XTN Transportation, sliced evenly. XTN spreads roughly 40 airlines, truckers, railroads and freight names across a modified equal-weight index, so small caps get a real vote instead of a rounding error.

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.

XTN The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Transportation Select Industry Index.

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.

• XTN Cheapest fare in the transportation aisle: 0.35% a year, against a 0.60% median for the peer group and 0.38% for the larger rival IYT.
• Modified equal weighting spreads the pot across air freight, airlines, airport services, highways and rail, marine, ports, railroads and trucking, not just two megacaps.ssga.com
• State Street has run it since 2011, and it sits in the upper half of its transportation peer group. Pays out quarterly.

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.

• XTN Equal weighting tilts toward smaller, more cyclical carriers, so the ride is bumpier than a cap-weighted transport fund's.ssga.com
• About 40 stocks in one slice of industrials. Fuel costs, freight rates and the economic cycle drive it, with no cushion from other sectors.
• Moderately traded rather than heavily, so spreads can widen in fast markets.

Full FTXR profile⁠

Full XTN profile⁠