If you're interested in broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market, look no further than the iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on October 6, 2003.
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.
Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 1, placing it in top 6%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $2.33 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. IYT seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Transportation Average Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Transportation Select Industry FMC Capped Index (USD) measures the performance of companies from the Industrial Transportation, Airline and General Industrial Services industries of the U.S. equity market.
Costs
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.38%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.89%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Union Pacific Corp (UNP) accounts for about 16.81% of total assets, followed by Uber Technologies Inc (UBER) and Fedex Corp (FDX).The top 10 holdings account for about 72.31% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added about 19.02% so far this year and is up roughly 26.86% in the last one year (as of 07/21/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $66.62 and $90.01.
The ETF has a beta of 1.19 and standard deviation of 21.22% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 48 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
iShares U.S. Transportation 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, IYT is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index and the First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (FTXR) tracks Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index. U.S. Global Jets ETF has $814.96 million in assets, First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF has $1.07 billion. JETS has an expense ratio of 0.6%, and FTXR charges 0.6%.
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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iShares U.S. Transportation ETF (IYT): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).