ETF Evaluator: State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF (XLB) Follow This ETF

State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF Overview

State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF (XLB) is a passively managed Sector Equity Natural Resources exchange-traded fund (ETF). State Street Investment Management launched the ETF in 1998.

The investment seeks to provide investment results that, before expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded equity securities of companies in the Materials Select Sector Index. In seeking to track the performance of the index, the fund employs a replication strategy. It generally invests substantially all, but at least 95%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index. The index includes securities of companies from the following industries: chemicals; metals and mining; paper and forest products; containers and packaging; and construction materials. The fund is non-diversified.

About State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF (XLB)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 7.11 years: Ted Janowsky (2017), Emiliano Rabinovich (2026) and Karl Schneider (2015). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and S&P Materials Select Sector TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF has 29 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 58.3% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Sector Equity ETF group. State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF has 5.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 94.0% There is 5.9% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF has 0.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $8 billion in total assets, which is above the $1 billion average for the Natural Resources category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

XLB Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Natural Resources category. State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF has an expense ratio of 0.08%, which is 85% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 29%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 40% for the Natural Resources category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF returned -0.2%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Natural Resources category had an average return of -7.3%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF has a trailing yield of 1.67%, which is below the 2.28% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

State Street®MatSelSectSPDR®ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 13.1%, 4.7 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 17.9% over the past year (grade of D), 9.1% over the past three years (grade of D) and 6.4% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 10.4% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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