State Street’s Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) is one of the newest additions to State Street’s popular legacy lineup of sector ETFs.
Investors looking for broad-based exposure to companies like Facebook, Twitter, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet will find those stocks in XLC. The fund was created in 2018 in response to a worldwide change in index taxonomy that reclassified social media giants out of the technology sector and into a new “communications services” category.
As a result popular ETFs like State Street’s Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) and the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) sold off the reclassified stocks, which were then bought up by new or reconstituted ETFs like XLC that target communications services stocks. (Apple kept its spot in the tech sector while Amazon was moved to consumer discretionary.)
XLC’s closest rival is the Vanguard Communication Services ETF (VOX), which is nearly identical, barring VOX’s lower fee and differences in the way Vanguard manages index rebalancing.
One other difference between State Street and Vanguard’s sector funds has typically been the audience. Vanguard funds are favorites of the buy-and-hold investors while the sector SPDRs are more popular with traders who prize their deep liquidity, massive options market and tight spreads.
| Segment | Equity: U.S. Communication Services |
| Category | Sector |
| Focus | Communication Services |
| Niche | Broad-based |
| Strategy | Vanilla |
| Weighting Scheme | Market Cap |
This section compares how balanced and deep this ETF is relative to its peers.
| XLC | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Holdings | 23 | 370 | 62 |
| % of Assets in Top 10 | 72.48% | 43.75% | 61.89% |
| % of Assets in Top 15 | 90.96% | 51.69% | 76.25% |
| % of Assets in Top 50 | 100.02% | 76.54% | 98.31% |
| XLC | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large (>12.9B) | 95.74% | 86.80% | 69.76% |
| Mid (>2.7B) | 4.20% | 4.42% | 23.71% |
| Small (>600M) | 0.00% | 0.62% | 6.13% |
| Micro (<600M) | 0.00% | 0.08% | 0.19% |
This section compares the P/E ratio of this ETF to its peers.
This section compares the dividend yield of this ETF to its peers.
| XLC | ETF Database Category Average | FactSet Segment Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dividend | $ 0.27 | $ 0.28 | $ 0.25 |
| Dividend Date | 2024-09-23 | N/A | N/A |
| Annual Dividend Rate | $ 0.88 | $ 0.94 | $ 0.75 |
| Annual Dividend Yield | 0.90% | 0.99% | 0.91% |
View charts featuring XLC price and volume data.
View charts featuring ETF fund flow data.
5 Day Net Flows: 267.94 M 1 Month Net Flows: 461.06 M 3 Month Net Flows: -200.13 M 6 Month Net Flows: -1.15 B 1 Year Net Flows: -289.49 M 3 Year Net Flows: 1.13 B 5 Year Net Flows: 4.66 B 10 Year Net Flows: 10.48 BView charts that break down the influence that fund flows and price had on overall assets.
5 Day Net AUM Change: 415.5 MThe adjacent table gives investors an individual Realtime Rating for XLC on several different metrics, including liquidity, expenses, performance, volatility, dividend, concentration of holdings in addition to an overall rating. The "A+ Metric Rated ETF" field, available to ETF Database Pro members, shows the ETF in the Large Cap Growth Equities with the highest Metric Realtime Rating for each individual field. To view all of this data, sign up for a free 14-day trial for ETF Database Pro. To view information on how the ETF Database Realtime Ratings work, click here.
This section compares the cost efficiency of this ETF to its peers.
| Max ST Capital Gains Rate | 39.60% |
| Max LT Capital Gains Rate | 20.00% |
| Tax On Distributions | Qualified dividends |
| Distributes K1 | No |
This section shows how this ETF has performed relative to its peers. Returns over 1 year are annualized.
| XLC |
ETF Database
Category Average |
Factset Segment
Average |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Month Return | 7.62% | 4.69% | 5.22% |
| 3 Month Return | 13.55% | 9.65% | 9.45% |
| YTD Return | 36.56% | 27.34% | 21.13% |
| 1 Year Return | 42.56% | 33.76% | 26.46% |
| 3 Year Return | 9.49% | 7.39% | 3.44% |
| 5 Year Return | 14.31% | 10.54% | 7.62% |
The following charts reflect the geographic spread of XLC's underlying holdings.
| Region | Percentage |
|---|---|
| North, Central and South America | 100.02% |
| Country | Percentage |
|---|---|
| United States | 99.97% |
| Other | 0.05% |
The following charts reflect the allocation of XLC's underlying holdings.
| Sector | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Technology Services | 54.98% |
| Consumer Services | 26.86% |
| Communications | 13.09% |
| Commercial Services | 5.04% |
| Miscellaneous | 0.05% |
| Market Cap | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Large | 95.74% |
| Mid | 4.2% |
| Small | 0.0% |
| Micro | 0.0% |
| Region | Percentage |
|---|
| Asset | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Share/Common/Ordinary | 99.97% |
| Open-ended Fund | 0.05% |
| Sector | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Technology Services | 54.98% |
| Consumer Services | 26.86% |
| Communications | 13.09% |
| Commercial Services | 5.04% |
| Miscellaneous | 0.05% |
This section shows how the volatility of this ETF compares to the peer group ETF Database Category.
| 5 Day Volatility | 79.13% |
| 20 Day Volatility | 13.32% |
| 50 Day Volatility | 11.22% |
| 200 Day Volatility | 14.66% |
| Beta | 1.02 |
| Standard Deviation | 6.91% |
ETF Database's Financial Advisor Reports are designed as an easy handout for clients to explain the key information on a fund. Includes new analyst insights and classification data.
Fact sheets are issued by the ETF provider and framed by ETF Database. Information contained within the fact sheet is not guaranteed to be timely or accurate.
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