IEZ vs OIH

IEZCiShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF

OIHBVanEck Oil Services ETF

In short

IEZ The picks-and-shovels corner of energy. IEZ owns the US equipment makers, drillers and service contractors that get paid when oil companies spend, rather than the producers pumping the barrels. Roughly 30 names, running since 2006.

OIH OIH skips the barrels and buys the picks and shovels: the drillers, equipment makers and service crews that get paid to punch holes in the ground. Roughly two dozen U.S.-listed names, running since 2011, priced below the energy-fund norm.

Stated mandate

IEZ The fund seeks to follow an index of U.S. companies operating in the oil equipment and services sector.

OIH The fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of an index representing U.S.-listed companies involved in upstream oil services, including oil equipment, oil services, and oil drilling.

Why people hold it

• IEZ Owns the service side of oil rather than the barrels: the index tracks US oil equipment and services companies, so the integrated majors most energy funds lean on sit outside it.ishares.com
• Live since 2006 under the iShares roof, with a multi-hundred-million-dollar asset base and active daily trading.
• Costs 0.37% a year, level with the typical fund in this energy cohort, and distributes quarterly.

• OIH Owns the toolmakers, not the oil: upstream equipment, services and drilling companies. A different engine than a fund stuffed with producers.vaneck.com
• 0.35% a year, a shade under the typical fee in its energy cohort and level with XOP, the broad exploration-and-production alternative.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund whose trading quality rates among the best in its energy peer group, so getting in and out is rarely the expensive part.
• The lineup comes from a published rulebook, the MVIS US Listed Oil Services 25 Index, not a manager's hunch about which driller wins next.vaneck.com

Worth knowing

• IEZ About 30 stocks in one cyclical niche. Service and equipment revenue follows drilling budgets, so swings tend to run sharper than a broad energy fund's.
• Cheaper doors exist in the same cohort: OIH at 0.35% and PBOG at 0.13%, though each tracks a different slice of energy.
• On our overall read it lands in the lower half of its energy peer group, where several rivals chase similar ground under different index rules.

• OIH Roughly two dozen stocks in one slice of one sector. That concentration cuts both ways and makes this the jumpier end of energy.
• You own contractors, not reserves. Their sales track what customers spend on drilling, which is a step removed from the oil price itself.vaneck.com
• Cash comes back once or twice a year at most, so income is a byproduct of the strategy rather than the point of it.

Full IEZ profile⁠

Full OIH profile⁠