ITA vs PPA: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

ITAACboe

Invesco Aerospace & Defense ETF

PPABNYSE Arca

Overlap

70.6%by weight

Expense ratio

ITA −0.21pt a year

ITA0.37%PPA0.58%

Avg volume · 30D

ITA 3.3×the volume

ITA747KPPA224K

10Y return · a year

PPA +2.7pt

ITA+13.5%PPA+16.2%

ITA vs PPA Performance

Oct 29, 2021 – Oct 30, 2026

+108.9%ITA+123.7%PPA

Expense ratio: ITA 0.37%, better; PPA 0.58%
Fund size: ITA $12.2B; PPA $7.52B
1Y total return: ITA −2.6%; PPA +0.9%, better
Yield (12M): ITA 0.27%; PPA 0.42%, better
Holdings: ITA 52; PPA 70
Avg volume (30D): ITA 747K sh, better; PPA 224K sh
NAV per share: ITA $209.66; PPA $158.65
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for ITA, PPA, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	ITA	PPA
Cost30% weight	A80Higher	C40
Mission25% weight	A76Higher	A75
Risk15% weight	B61	B69Higher
Tradability15% weight	A96Higher	A91
Holdings10% weight	D34	C50Higher
Durability5% weight	A98Higher	A93

Rank among Defense & Aerospace funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. ITA and PPA 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 PPA 5th 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 4BFOWFPacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare ETFScore 61
Rank 5BPPAInvesco Aerospace & Defense ETFScore 60
Rank 6BIDEFiShares Defense Industrials ActScore 58

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

ITAAiShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

PPABInvesco 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.

PPA The original defense ETF. PPA has tracked the SPADE Defense Index since 2005, and its net runs wider than jet engines: homeland security and government space work count too.

Stated mandate

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

PPA The Fund seeks exposure to companies involved in US defense, homeland security, and aerospace. It tracks the SPADE Defense Index and normally invests at least 90% of assets in its common stocks.

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.

PPA Launched in October 2005, PPA is the elder statesman of US defense funds, with a track record spanning two decades of shifting Pentagon budgets.invesco.com
The index reaches past the big primes into homeland security and government space operations, so roughly 60 holdings cover the plumbing of national security, not just airframes.invesco.com
Weighting is modified market cap, not raw market cap, which trims how much the largest contractors can pull the fund around.invesco.com spadeindex.com
A multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly and rates as one of the stronger builds in a crowded defense-theme group.

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

PPA At 0.58% a year, PPA sits above the defense-cohort median of 0.50%, and above XAR (0.35%) and ITA (0.37%).
It is a non-diversified, single-industry fund, so government budget priorities and contract news move it more than the broad market does.invesco.com
The index provider decides which companies are systematically important to US defense, so the lineup rests partly on judgment, reviewed on a set schedule.spadeindex.com

Full ITA profile⁠

Full PPA profile⁠

ITA vs PPA Holdings

How ITA and PPA differ

Overlap by weight

70.6%

Shared holdings make up 95.6% of ITA and 78.2% of PPA.

Level by level

Sector7 Sectors0.0%
Holdings36 in both70.6%
Countryby domicile95.9%
Asset classEquity100%

Sector

Sector weights in ITA and PPA, widest gap first
Sector	More in ITAMore in PPA	ITA	PPA
Aerospace & Defense	ITA +99.9 points	99.9%	0.0%
Industrials	PPA +89.7 points	0.0%	89.7%
Technology	PPA +9.2 points	0.0%	9.2%
Materials	PPA +0.8 points	0.0%	0.8%
Communication	PPA +0.2 points	0.0%	0.2%
Leisure Products	ITA +0.1 points	0.1%	0.0%
Financials	PPA +0.1 points	0.0%	0.1%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in ITA and PPA, widest gap first
Country	More in ITAMore in PPA	ITA	PPA
United States	ITA +4.1 points	100.0%	95.9%
Israel	PPA +3.0 points	0.0%	3.0%
Canada	PPA +1.0 points	0.0%	1.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

ITA76.3%
PPA61.2%

Securities held

ITA50
PPA67

Asset class

ITA: Equity
PPA: Equity

Holdings

Only in ITA14
In both36
Only in PPA31

Only in ITA

14 securities, 4.3% of ITA by weight

Ftai Aviation1.48%
Heico Class A1.38%
Vse Corp0.32%
Archer Aviation Class A0.21%
Arxis Class A0.19%
Beta Technologies Class A0.18%
Astronics0.16%
Intuitive Machines Inc Class A0.13%
National Presto Industries Inc0.06%
Red Cat Holdings Inc0.05%
Sturm Ruger0.05%
Smith Wesson Brands Inc0.05%
York Space Systems Inc0.04%
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc Shs C0.03%

Only in PPA

31 securities, 21.8% of PPA by weight

Parker-Hannifin Corp3.41%
Elbit Systems Ltd3.02%
Amphenol Corp2.19%
Eaton Corp PLC1.79%
Palantir Technologies Inc1.67%
Leidos Holdings Inc1.04%
CACI International Inc0.98%
Space Exploration Technologies Corp0.86%
Viasat Inc0.77%
Teledyne Technologies Inc0.74%
CAE Inc0.67%
Keysight Technologies Inc0.64%
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp0.64%
Science Applications International Corp0.40%
MDA Space Ltd0.38%
TTM Technologies Inc0.27%
KBR Inc0.26%
Planet Labs PBC0.25%
Amentum Holdings Inc0.23%
Oshkosh Corp0.21%
OSI Systems Inc0.19%
Ondas Inc0.18%
Applied Aerospace & Defense Inc0.16%
Iridium Communications Inc0.15%
Parsons Corp0.14%
nLight Inc0.12%
Hawkeye 360 Inc0.11%
Lyntris Inc0.11%
Invesco Government & Agency Portfolio0.07%
Aevex Corp0.06%
BlackSky Technology Inc0.06%

Weight gaps

All 36 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in ITA and PPA, widest gap first
Holding	More in ITAMore in PPA	ITA	PPA
Ge AerospaceGE	ITA +11.34 points	20.02%	8.68%
RtxRTX	ITA +7.98 points	17.22%	9.24%
Lockheed MartinLMT	PPA +3.96 points	5.69%	9.65%
Rocket Lab CorpRKLB	ITA +1.48 points	2.31%	0.83%
Transdigm GroupTDG	ITA +1.27 points	4.77%	3.50%
BoeingBA	PPA +0.90 points	6.83%	7.73%
Axon EnterpriseAXON	ITA +0.60 points	2.67%	2.07%
General Dynamics CorpGD	PPA +0.59 points	4.95%	5.54%
Leonardo Drs IncDRS	PPA +0.53 points	0.22%	0.75%
WoodwardWWD	ITA +0.43 points	1.38%	0.95%
Howmet AerospaceHWM	ITA +0.41 points	4.01%	3.60%
AtiATI	ITA +0.41 points	1.73%	1.32%
Curtiss WrightCW	ITA +0.30 points	1.35%	1.05%
Carpenter TechnologyCRS	ITA +0.27 points	1.08%	0.81%
L3HARRIS TechnologiesLHX	PPA +0.26 points	3.97%	4.23%
HeicoHEI	PPA +0.25 points	1.01%	1.26%
Bwx Technologies IncBWXT	ITA +0.24 points	0.92%	0.68%
StandardaeroSARO	PPA +0.21 points	0.40%	0.61%
Textron IncTXT	ITA +0.19 points	1.13%	0.94%
Loar HoldingsLOAR	PPA +0.18 points	0.17%	0.35%
Northrop Grumman CorpNOC	PPA +0.17 points	5.06%	5.23%
AerovironmentAVAV	PPA +0.16 points	0.37%	0.53%
Moog Inc Class AMOG.A	ITA +0.10 points	0.77%	0.67%
Karman Holdings IncKRMN	PPA +0.08 points	0.38%	0.46%
Mercury Systems IncMRCY	PPA +0.07 points	0.33%	0.40%
Firefly AerospaceFLY	PPA +0.05 points	0.13%	0.18%
Huntington Ingalls IndustriesHII	PPA +0.04 points	0.96%	1.00%
HexcelHXL	PPA +0.03 points	0.45%	0.48%
AarAIR	PPA +0.02 points	0.31%	0.33%
DucommunDCO	PPA +0.02 points	0.17%	0.19%
Cadre HoldingsCDRE	PPA +0.02 points	0.07%	0.09%
Voyager Technologies Class AVOYG	ITA +0.02 points	0.11%	0.09%
RedwireRDW	PPA +0.02 points	0.16%	0.18%
Honeywell Aerospace IncHONA	PPA +0.01 points	3.75%	3.76%
Kratos Defense and Security SolutiKTOS	PPA +0.01 points	0.59%	0.60%
V2XVVX	Same weight	0.19%	0.19%

All 50 ITA holdings⁠All 68 PPA 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 PPA Cost

Overpaying PPA vs ITA

$3,940

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

ITA 0.37%
$7,513
PPA 0.58%
$11,453

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

ITA 0.37%
PPA 0.58%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	ITA	PPA	Overpaying
10	$670	$1,041	$371
20	$2,590	$3,986	$1,396
30	$7,513	$11,453	$3,940

Expense ratio

0.37%ITA, cheaper
0.58%PPA

ITA0.37%PPA0.58%

0.35%1.11%

Middle half of Defense & Aerospace funds
Median 0.50%

ITA 5th cheapest of 25 funds

PPA 15th cheapest of 25 funds

ITA vs PPA Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): ITA 0.27%; PPA 0.42%, better
Payout (12M): ITA $0.57; PPA $0.66
Last payment: ITA $0.25; PPA $0.48
Ex-dividend: ITA Sep 15, 2026; PPA Sep 21, 2026
Paid on: ITA Sep 18, 2026; PPA Sep 25, 2026
Frequency: ITA Quarterly; PPA Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

ITAQuarterly · 39 paymentsAll ITA payments⁠

PPAQuarterly · 36 paymentsAll PPA payments⁠

ITA vs PPA Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: ITA 18.5%PPA 16.1%, better
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: ITA 1.06PPA 1.23, better
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: ITA −20.0%PPA −18.4%, better
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: ITA 0.98PPA 0.85; Market = 1

ITA and PPA in the news

All news⁠

News
Boeing beats Northrop for a Navy fighter development deal of more than $20 billion
Sep 29, 2026ITAPPA
Deep Dive
Defense & Aerospace ETFs nearly doubled in three years. September's losses came from different names
Sep 21, 2026ITAPPA
Deep Dive
ITA fell with Boeing, SHLD rose with Palantir last week
Sep 20, 2026ITAPPA
News
Boeing and SPEEA reach a tentative deal that would raise engineer pay 10%
Sep 12, 2026ITAPPA
News
AeroVironment holds fiscal 2027 as funded backlog hits a record $1.5 billion
Sep 9, 2026ITAPPA
News
GE Aerospace raises its 2026 profit forecast again
Oct 20, 2026ITA

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ITA vs PPA

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it