If you're interested in broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market, look no further than the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on March 10, 2014.
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 9, placing it in bottom 44%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $9.28 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. AIRR seeks to match the performance of the Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance Index before fees and expenses.
The Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance Index is measures the performance of small and mid cap US companies in the industrial and community banking sectors.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.69%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 92.1% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Mastec, Inc. (MTZ) accounts for about 4.21% of total assets, followed by Argan, Inc. (AGX) and Comfort Systems Usa, Inc. (FIX).The top 10 holdings account for about 35.98% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF return is roughly 23.99% so far, and is up roughly 81.79% over the last 12 months (as of 04/14/2026). AIRR has traded between $65.17 and $121.93 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.27 and standard deviation of 25.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 53 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. AIRR, then, is not a great choice for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.
Vanguard Industrials Index Fund ETF Shares (VIS) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index and the State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Industrials Index Fund ETF Shares has $7.57 billion in assets, State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $30.33 billion. VIS has an expense ratio of 0.09%, and XLI charges 0.08%.
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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First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).