OIH vs PXE

OIHBVanEck Oil Services ETF

PXEDInvesco Energy Exploration & Production ETF

In short

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.

PXE The quant twist on US drillers. Rather than rank every exploration and production name by size, PXE's Intellidex index scores them on momentum, earnings momentum, quality, management action and value, then holds about 30. Trading since 2005.

Stated mandate

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.

PXE The fund is based on the Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production Intellidex Index, which covers 30 U.S. companies engaged in exploring for and producing natural resources used to generate energy.

Why people hold it

• 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

• PXE The index screens US exploration and production companies on price momentum, earnings momentum, quality, management action and value, then holds about 30. Not a size-ranked roster.invesco.com
• Listed in 2005, it predates most of the E&P shelf and has traded through multiple oil booms and busts with the same rules-based approach.
• Portfolio makeup is the fund's strongest suit in this peer group: roughly 30 US energy names, spread across the field instead of anchored to one or two giants.
• Physical stock ownership, at least 90% of assets in index constituents, and cash gets passed along quarterly.invesco.com

Worth knowing

• 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.

• PXE The screen costs: 0.63% net of a waiver through August 31, 2028 (0.67% gross), above the category median. XOP charges 0.35%, IEO 0.37%, PBOG 0.13%.
• Thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so the gap between bid and ask can be wider at the moment you buy or sell.
• About 30 stocks in one slice of one sector. Drilling economics swing with the oil price, and each holding carries real weight.

Full OIH profile⁠

Full PXE profile⁠