Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB)?
Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds 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. Consumer Discretionary - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 9, placing it in bottom 44%.
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $2 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market. ITB seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index before fees and expenses.
The Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index comprises of U.S. equities in the home construction sector.
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 0.39%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.56%.
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 Consumer Discretionary sector--about 77.20% of the portfolio. Industrials and Materials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, D R Horton Inc (DHI) accounts for about 14.13% of total assets, followed by Lennar A Corp Class A (LEN) and Nvr Inc (NVR).
The top 10 holdings account for about 65.98% of total assets under management.
The ETF has lost about -13.77% and is down about -15.71% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/03/2025), respectively. ITB has traded between $85.52 and $129.34 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.37 and standard deviation of 28.40% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 51 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
IShares U.S. Home Construction ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. ITB, then, is not the best option for investors seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.
Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) tracks Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF has $5.80 billion in assets, Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF has $21.47 billion. VCR has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLY charges 0.08%.
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.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB): ETF Research Reports
Lennar Corporation (LEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
NVR, Inc. (NVR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY): ETF Research Reports
Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
Zacks Investment Research
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
SharpLink (SBET) Slashes 5.7% on New co-CEO Appointment
We recently published . SharpLink Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBET) is one of the worst-performing stocks on Friday. SharpLink Gaming extended its losing streak to a third consecutive day on Friday, shedding 5.7 percent to close at $21.99 apiece as investors turned cautious while in a wait-and-see mode following the appointment of a BlackRock executive as the company's co-CEO. In a statement, SharpLink Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBET) welcomed Joseph Chalom as its new co-CEO effective on Thursday, July 24. Chalom boasts of 20 years of experience in digital finance innovations at BlackRock, including the launch of the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), the largest Ethereum exchange-traded product with over $10 billion in current assets. Copyright: vadymvdrobot / 123RF Stock Photo Rob Phythian, SharpLink Gaming, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SBET) current CEO, will transition to the role of president over the next quarter and remain a board member. The drop in shares of SharpLink Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ:SBET) may have been influenced by a cautious market sentiment until the company elaborates on its plans following the appointment. While we acknowledge the potential of SBET as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the . Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Smartest Ethereum ETF to Buy With $500 Right Now
Key Points The iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has attracted more assets than any other Ethereum ETF, with 42% of asset inflows in just the past month. BlackRock's backing provides institutional credibility and virtually unlimited financial resources behind the fund. Buying Ethereum through an ETF eliminates the need for crypto wallets, special exchanges, and fractional coin calculations. 10 stocks we like better than iShares Ethereum Trust - iShares Ethereum Trust ETF › Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the real-time price of Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) have been around for a year now. Since the funds were approved and launched in July 2024, Ethereum has gained 7% while the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) rose 18%. The leading ETFs have done a great job of tracking this performance precisely, even if the cryptocurrency has been lagging behind stocks recently. But one ETF stands apart from the rest in many ways. If you're planning to enter the Ethereum market via an ETF, the iShares Ethereum Trust (NASDAQ: ETHA) should be at the top of your list. Apart from having the most assets under management (AUM) in its category, the iShares ETF also comes with low fees and a proven fund family. So if you have $500 to spend on a crypto investment today, here's why you should consider the iShares Ethereum Trust. Is Ethereum a good investment? Ethereum is often more volatile than the larger Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) cryptocurrency. For instance, the two crypto giants have both posted approximately 1,200% gains in the last five years, but Ethereum's path to this peak had many more peaks and valleys along the way. The S&P 500 is basically flatlining next to both, even in the midst of the generative artificial intelligence boom: Now, Ethereum serves a very different purpose than Bitcoin. Instead of a fundamental wealth-holding tool, Ethereum's smart contracts help app developers manage financial tools and trends in a global blockchain ledger. So Ethereum's value doesn't spring from a scarce supply, but from real-world usage of the resulting programs. That makes Ethereum a promising investment if you feel like the financial world could use a whole new set of basic tools. Ethereum-based apps can track ownership of physical assets, execute financial transactions automatically, or manage your digital wallet securely. The Ethereum ledger is readable anytime, from anywhere. At the same time, its encryption effectively makes all of this transaction data immune to hacking and fraud attacks. On this platform, developers can build a wide variety of financial apps, mobile games, and so on. So if you see a market for this sort of thing in the long run, Ethereum has led the blockchain-based app development space for years. It's the industry standard -- for good reason. And that should make Ethereum a solid investment over the years, as decentralized app development continues to gain traction. Why buy via an Ethereum ETF? Buying Ethereum directly often means setting up a new account with a different type of brokerage -- one that can handle cryptocurrency trades rather than stock transactions. You also need to get comfortable with a different type of transaction, where you're usually trading fractions of a digital coin rather than batches of full shares of a stock. Prices are always changing, and you have to figure out where to store your new Ethereum coins. ETFs make the whole process much easier, assuming you already have a stock-trading brokerage account. These funds act just like stocks, with shares usually priced in a comfortable range. A few iShares Ethereum Trust shares at $27 apiece can be more comfortable than a single Ethereum coin at $3,640. What makes the iShares ETF special? As mentioned, the iShares fund is more popular and therefore more liquid than other Ethereum-based ETFs. This makes trading safer and easier, with more stable share prices and quicker transactions. It's part of the world-famous iShares fund family, next to the even more popular iShares Bitcoin ETF (NASDAQ: IBIT) and the massive iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: IVV). Financial services giant BlackRock runs the show, giving investors the peace of mind that comes with essentially bottomless financial backing. And like most of its iShares cousins, this one comes with a low fee ratio. At 0.25% per year, it's not exactly the cheapest Ethereum ETF to own, but it comes close to the lowest-cost Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (NYSEMKT: ETH) at 0.15%. The BlackRock backing and world-class liquidity can make up for this small gap, and some Ethereum ETFs come with fee ratios as high as 2.5%. The iShares Ethereum Trust is only pulling away from the competition, too. With 42% of AUM inflows over the last month, this fund added more AUM than any other Ethereum ETF has done year to date. You should consider the iShares Ethereum Trust before any other fund in this category. It's a great place to put your next $500 (about 18 shares) of investable cash to work. Market makers broadly agree, judging by the dominant inflows of more funding. Should you invest $1,000 in iShares Ethereum Trust - iShares Ethereum Trust ETF right now? Before you buy stock in iShares Ethereum Trust - iShares Ethereum Trust ETF, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and iShares Ethereum Trust - iShares Ethereum Trust ETF wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, iShares Bitcoin Trust, and iShares Ethereum Trust - iShares Ethereum Trust ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Smartest Ethereum ETF to Buy With $500 Right Now was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio

Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
BlackRock's Rick Rieder: I Think Rates Can Come Down
BlackRock CIO of Global Fixed Income Rick Rieder sees a resilient US economy driven by a strong service sector, robust equity market techniclas, and moderating inflation. He warns, however, that the long end of the yield curve faces headwinds from rising debt issuance. Still, Rieder is bullish on transformative innovation, particularly AI, automation, and data-driven business models, which he believes mark the most exciting investment period in decades. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data