Designed to provide broad exposure to the Healthcare - Biotech segment of the equity market, the VanEck Biotech ETF (BBH) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on December 20, 2011.
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Healthcare - Biotech 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 Van Eck. It has amassed assets over $400.93 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Biotech segment of the equity market. BBH seeks to match the performance of the MVIS US Listed Biotech 25 Index before fees and expenses.
The MVIS US Listed Biotech 25 Index tracks the overall performance of companies involved in the development and production, marketing and sales of drugs based on genetic analysis and diagnostic equipment.
Costs
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
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 Healthcare sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD) accounts for about 14.82% of total assets, followed by Amgen Inc (AMGN) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (VRTX).The top 10 holdings account for about 70.71% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 8.6% and is up about 27.56% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 07/13/2026), respectively. BBH has traded between $154.79 and $212.387 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 0.69 and standard deviation of 18.84% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 26 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
VanEck Biotech ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, BBH is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Health Care ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) tracks Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and the State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) tracks S&P Biotechnology Select Industry Index. iShares Biotechnology ETF has $9.29 billion in assets, State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has $10.76 billion. IBB has an expense ratio of 0.44%, and XBI charges 0.35%.
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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VanEck Biotech ETF (BBH): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).