IHI vs XHS

IHIBiShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF

XHSAState Street SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF

In short

IHI Medical devices only: pacemakers, insulin pumps, surgical robots. No pharma, no insurers, no hospitals riding along. iShares has run this narrow slice since 2006, and it costs less than the typical thematic fund.

XHS Most health care ETFs are pharma funds in disguise. XHS buys the delivery system instead: insurers, hospitals, distributors and clinics, roughly equal weighted so one giant insurer does not run the show.

Stated mandate

IHI The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. equities focused on the medical devices sector, providing targeted exposure to domestic medical-equipment manufacturers and distributors.

XHS The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P Health Care Services Select Industry Index before fees and expenses, providing targeted exposure to health care services companies.

Why people hold it

• IHI At 0.37% a year, it undercuts the typical fund in its thematic peer group, which sits closer to 0.56%.
• Tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Select Medical Equipment Index: roughly 50 US device makers and distributors, and nothing else wearing a lab coat.ishares.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so entering and exiting rarely means wrestling with the spread.
• Live since 2006 and one of the sturdier builds in its thematic cohort, with no structural quirks flagged.

• XHS No drugmakers, no device makers. The index tracks four slices of care delivery: distributors, facilities, health care services and managed care.ssga.com
• Modified equal weighting spreads about 60 names across large, mid and small caps, so the portfolio is not a bet on two or three mega caps.ssga.com
• 0.35% a year sits below the 0.50% median for broad health care ETFs, on a fund that has been running since 2011.
• Ranks in the top quartile of the broad health care ETFs we grade.

Worth knowing

• IHI About 50 names means a handful of big device makers carry most of the weight. Single-company news lands harder here than in a broad healthcare fund.
• One narrow slice of one sector, all US-listed. It can travel a long way from the broad market in either direction.
• Distributions arrive quarterly, but the mandate is device-maker stock exposure, not a yield engine.

• XHS Cheap against the median, not against the giants: XLV, VHT and FHLC charge under a tenth of a percent for cap weighted whole sector exposure.
• Thinly traded next to the big sector funds, so spreads and limit orders matter more here.
• Leaving out pharma and biotech means it moves differently from a whole sector fund, and insurers and hospitals sit close to reimbursement policy.ssga.com

Full IHI profile⁠

Full XHS profile⁠