ITA vs MISL: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

ITAACboe

First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF

MISLCNYSE Arca

Overlap

66.9%by weight

Expense ratio

ITA −0.23pt a year

ITA0.37%MISL0.60%

Avg volume · 30D

ITA 8.2×the volume

ITA747KMISL91.5K

3Y return · a year

ITA +2.0pt

ITA+24.9%MISL+22.9%

ITA vs MISL Performance

Oct 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

−2.6%ITA−3.5%MISL

Expense ratio: ITA 0.37%, better; MISL 0.60%
Fund size: ITA $12.2B; MISL $673M
1Y total return: ITA −2.6%, better; MISL −3.5%
Yield (12M): ITA 0.27%, better; MISL 0.07%
Holdings: ITA 52; MISL 45
Avg volume (30D): ITA 747K sh, better; MISL 91.5K sh
NAV per share: ITA $209.66; MISL $41.55
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for ITA, MISL, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	ITA	MISL
Cost30% weight	A80Higher	D34
Mission25% weight	A76	Not scored
Risk15% weight	B61Higher	C52
Tradability15% weight	A96Higher	A84
Holdings10% weight	D34	B55Higher
Durability5% weight	A98Higher	A84

Rank among Defense & Aerospace funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. ITA and MISL are both graded against the same 25 Defense & Aerospace funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

Defense & Aerospace⁠

Category · 25 funds

See all 25 ›

ITA ranks 2nd and MISL 9th of 25 funds in the Defense & Aerospace Category.

Rank 1AXARState Street SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETFScore 78
Rank 2AITAiShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETFScore 74
Rank 3BFLDZTrueShares Patriot Defense ETFScore 62
Rank 8BSHLDGlobal X Defense Tech ETFScore 55
Rank 9CMISLFirst Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETFScore 53
Rank 10CWDEFWisdomTree Europe Defense FundScore 50

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

ITAAiShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

MISLCFirst Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF

In short

ITA The 2006 original in aerospace and defense, and still the anchor fund of the category. It follows a market-cap-weighted index of U.S. aircraft, parts and weapons makers, so the big primes carry most of the weight.

MISL First Trust's aerospace-and-defense sleeve: roughly 50 US-listed names tracking the Indxx US Aerospace & Defense Index. A 2022 arrival in a crowded aisle, priced a notch above the category median.

Stated mandate

ITA The fund is designed to follow an index of U.S. equity companies focused on aerospace and defense.

MISL The Fund seeks investment results corresponding generally to the price and yield of the Indxx US Aerospace & Defense Index and normally invests at least 80% of net assets in the stocks comprising that index.

Why people hold it

ITA Charges 0.37% a year, below the typical defense-fund fee and a whisker off the cheapest large rival, XAR at 0.35%.
Trading since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund: the long-standing incumbent in U.S. aerospace and defense.
The index weights by market cap but caps any single company's weight, so the biggest primes lead without swallowing the whole portfolio.spglobal.com
One of the strongest builds in a crowded defense peer group, with a plain-vanilla index mandate and quarterly payouts.

MISL Roughly 50 US aerospace and defense stocks, with at least 80% of net assets in the index names. Rules-based tracking, no manager hunches.ftportfolios.com
Moderately traded rather than thin, which generally shows up as workable spreads on retail-size orders.
Live since 2022 and run by First Trust, a long-established ETF shop. It sits in the upper half of the defense-theme funds we grade.

Worth knowing

ITA About 50 stocks, cap-weighted: a few primes drive most of the ride. XAR's modified equal weight spreads exposure further down the size ladder.ssga.com
One U.S. industry, running on two engines: government procurement and commercial aircraft demand. Narrower than a broad-market fund by design.ishares.com
Holds a representative sample of the index rather than every constituent, which can leave small gaps versus the benchmark.sec.gov

MISL 0.60% a year sits above the category median of 0.50%, and cheaper US aerospace-and-defense trackers exist: XAR at 0.35%, ITA at 0.37%.
One theme, one country. Results ride on defense budgets and aerospace cycles, and with about 50 names each holding carries real weight.
Built for exposure, not income: distributions land annually or semiannually.

Full ITA profile⁠

Full MISL profile⁠

ITA vs MISL Holdings

How ITA and MISL differ

Overlap by weight

66.9%

Shared holdings make up 90.3% of ITA and 78.5% of MISL.

Level by level

Sector5 Sectors0.0%
Holdings33 in both66.9%
Asset classEquity100%
Countryby domicile100%

Sector

Sector weights in ITA and MISL, widest gap first
Sector	More in ITAMore in MISL	ITA	MISL
Aerospace & Defense	ITA +99.9 points	99.9%	0.0%
Industrials	MISL +85.7 points	0.0%	85.7%
Technology	MISL +12.5 points	0.0%	12.5%
Communication	MISL +1.8 points	0.0%	1.8%
Leisure Products	ITA +0.1 points	0.1%	0.0%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in ITA and MISL, widest gap first
Country	More in ITAMore in MISL	ITA	MISL
United States	Same weight	100.0%	100.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

ITA76.3%
MISL60.5%

Securities held

ITA50
MISL44

Asset class

ITA: Equity
MISL: Equity

Holdings

Only in ITA17
In both33
Only in MISL11

Only in ITA

17 securities, 9.7% of ITA by weight

Axon Enterprise2.67%
Ati1.73%
Heico Class A1.38%
Carpenter Technology1.08%
Bwx Technologies Inc0.92%
Standardaero0.40%
Vse Corp0.32%
Archer Aviation Class A0.21%
V2X0.19%
Arxis Class A0.19%
Beta Technologies Class A0.18%
Redwire0.16%
Cadre Holdings0.07%
Red Cat Holdings Inc0.05%
Sturm Ruger0.05%
Smith Wesson Brands Inc0.05%
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc Shs C0.03%

Only in MISL

11 securities, 21.3% of MISL by weight

Palantir Technologies Inc. (Class A)7.07%
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (Class A)6.65%
Leidos Holdings, Inc.1.94%
AST SpaceMobile, Inc.1.72%
CACI International Inc.1.61%
Science Applications International Corporation0.69%
Parsons Corporation0.59%
KBR, Inc.0.53%
Applied Aerospace & Defense, Inc.0.21%
AEVEX Corp. (Class A)0.17%
BlackSky Technology Inc. (Class A)0.08%

Weight gaps

All 33 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in ITA and MISL, widest gap first
Holding	More in ITAMore in MISL	ITA	MISL
Ge AerospaceGE	ITA +12.16 points	20.02%	7.86%
RtxRTX	ITA +8.60 points	17.22%	8.62%
HeicoHEI	MISL +3.10 points	1.01%	4.11%
Rocket Lab CorpRKLB	MISL +0.91 points	2.31%	3.22%
Leonardo Drs IncDRS	MISL +0.87 points	0.22%	1.09%
L3HARRIS TechnologiesLHX	MISL +0.73 points	3.97%	4.70%
Lockheed MartinLMT	ITA +0.67 points	5.69%	5.02%
Transdigm GroupTDG	ITA +0.62 points	4.77%	4.15%
Ftai AviationFTAI	MISL +0.60 points	1.48%	2.08%
WoodwardWWD	MISL +0.56 points	1.38%	1.94%
Curtiss WrightCW	MISL +0.55 points	1.35%	1.90%
Textron IncTXT	MISL +0.46 points	1.13%	1.59%
Howmet AerospaceHWM	ITA +0.46 points	4.01%	3.55%
Loar HoldingsLOAR	MISL +0.46 points	0.17%	0.63%
Moog Inc Class AMOG.A	MISL +0.43 points	0.77%	1.20%
General Dynamics CorpGD	ITA +0.44 points	4.95%	4.51%
Northrop Grumman CorpNOC	ITA +0.41 points	5.06%	4.65%
BoeingBA	MISL +0.40 points	6.83%	7.23%
Huntington Ingalls IndustriesHII	MISL +0.39 points	0.96%	1.35%
AerovironmentAVAV	MISL +0.32 points	0.37%	0.69%
Kratos Defense and Security SolutiKTOS	MISL +0.24 points	0.59%	0.83%
Firefly AerospaceFLY	MISL +0.19 points	0.13%	0.32%
Karman Holdings IncKRMN	MISL +0.19 points	0.38%	0.57%
HexcelHXL	MISL +0.19 points	0.45%	0.64%
Mercury Systems IncMRCY	MISL +0.18 points	0.33%	0.51%
Honeywell Aerospace IncHONA	MISL +0.17 points	3.75%	3.92%
Intuitive Machines Inc Class ALUNR	MISL +0.13 points	0.13%	0.26%
AarAIR	MISL +0.13 points	0.31%	0.44%
AstronicsATRO	MISL +0.12 points	0.16%	0.28%
DucommunDCO	MISL +0.09 points	0.17%	0.26%
Voyager Technologies Class AVOYG	MISL +0.06 points	0.11%	0.17%
National Presto Industries IncNPK	MISL +0.05 points	0.06%	0.11%
York Space Systems IncYSS	MISL +0.05 points	0.04%	0.09%

All 50 ITA holdings⁠All 44 MISL holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

ITA vs MISL Cost

Overpaying MISL vs ITA

$4,304

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

ITA 0.37%
$7,513
MISL 0.60%
$11,817

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

ITA 0.37%
MISL 0.60%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	ITA	MISL	Overpaying
10	$670	$1,076	$406
20	$2,590	$4,116	$1,526
30	$7,513	$11,817	$4,304

Expense ratio

0.37%ITA, cheaper
0.60%MISL

ITA0.37%MISL0.60%

0.35%1.11%

Middle half of Defense & Aerospace funds
Median 0.50%

ITA 5th cheapest of 25 funds

MISL 16th cheapest of 25 funds

ITA vs MISL Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): ITA 0.27%, better; MISL 0.07%
Payout (12M): ITA $0.57; MISL $0.03
Last payment: ITA $0.25; MISL $0.03
Ex-dividend: ITA Sep 15, 2026; MISL Mar 26, 2026
Paid on: ITA Sep 18, 2026; MISL Mar 31, 2026
Frequency: ITA Quarterly; MISL Twice a year

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

ITAQuarterly · 39 paymentsAll ITA payments⁠

MISLTwice a year · 13 paymentsAll MISL payments⁠

ITA vs MISL Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: ITA 18.5%, betterMISL 18.6%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: ITA 1.06, betterMISL 0.97
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: ITA −20.0%MISL −20.0%since Oct 2022
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: ITA 0.98MISL 0.90; Market = 1

ITA and MISL in the news

All news⁠

News
GE Aerospace raises its 2026 profit forecast again
Oct 20, 2026ITA
News
Navy awards Raytheon an SM-6 contract valued at up to $24.4 billion
Oct 1, 2026ITA
News
Boeing beats Northrop for a Navy fighter development deal of more than $20 billion
Sep 29, 2026ITA
News
Turkish Airlines firms 100 Boeing 737 MAX jets, with deliveries from 2033
Sep 23, 2026ITA
Deep Dive
Defense & Aerospace ETFs nearly doubled in three years. September's losses came from different names
Sep 21, 2026ITA
Deep Dive
ITA fell with Boeing, SHLD rose with Palantir last week
Sep 20, 2026ITA

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ITA vs MISL

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it