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Should You Invest in the PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductors Portfolio (PSI)?

Zacks Equity Research
Updated
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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the U.S. equity market, the PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductors Portfolio (PSI) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 06/23/2005.

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Semiconductors is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Invesco Powershares. It has amassed assets over $349.25 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the U.S. equity market. PSI seeks to match the performance of the Dynamic Semiconductor Intellidex Index before fees and expenses.

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The index is comprised of stocks of semiconductor companies. The Index is designed to provide capital appreciation by thoroughly evaluating companies based on a variety of investment merit criteria, including fundamental growth, stock valuation, investment timeliness and risk factors.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.63%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.20%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Intel Corp (INTC) accounts for about 5.85% of total assets, followed by Micron Technology Inc (MU) and Texas Instruments Inc (TXN).

The top 10 holdings account for about 45.68% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 6.46% so far this year and it's up approximately 22.97% in the last one year (as of 05/22/2018). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $41.30 and $57.37.

The ETF has a beta of 1.26 and standard deviation of 22.86% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 30 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

PowerShares Dynamic Semiconductors Portfolio holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, PSI is an outstanding option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) tracks MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index and the iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) tracks PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector Index. VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF has $1.52 B in assets, iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF has $1.66 B. SMH has an expense ratio of 0.35% and SOXX charges 0.48%.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.


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ISHARS-PHLX SEM (SOXX): ETF Research Reports
 
PWRSH-DYN SEMI (PSI): ETF Research Reports
 
VANECK-SEMICON (SMH): ETF Research Reports
 
Intel Corporation (INTC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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