The State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) was launched on 06/19/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Energy ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Because the fund has amassed over $2.99 billion, this makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Energy ETFs. XOP is managed by State Street Investment Management. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index.
The S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production Select Industry Index represents the oil and gas exploration and production sub-industry portion of the S&P Total Markets Index. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Oil & Gas Exploration Index is a modified equal weight index.
Cost & Other Expenses
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.
With one of the least expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.35%.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.11%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer 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.
Representing 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Energy sector.
Looking at individual holdings, Apa Corp (APA) accounts for about 2.91% of total assets, followed by Venture Global Inc Cl A (VG) and Murphy Oil Corp (MUR).
XOP's top 10 holdings account for about 27.32% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 23.09% so far this year and it's up approximately 21.71% in the last one year (as of 07/07/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $121.81 and $188.18
XOP has a beta of 0.53 and standard deviation of 27.34% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 53 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Energy ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Portfolio Building Block Integrated Oil & Gas and Exp and Prod Index ETF (PBOG) tracks BITA GLOBAL OIL & GAS SELECT INDEX and the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (IEO) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Oil Exploration & Production Index. Portfolio Building Block Integrated Oil & Gas and Exp and Prod Index ETF has $470.21 million in assets, iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF has $517.24 million. PBOG has an expense ratio of 0.13% and IEO changes 0.38%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Energy ETFs
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.Boost Your Portfolio with Our Top ETF Insights
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State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).