The State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF (XNTK) was launched on 09/25/2000, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Technology 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.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by State Street Investment Management, XNTK has amassed assets over $1.94 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Technology ETFs. XNTK, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the NYSE Technology Index.
The NYSE Technology Index is composed of 35 leading U.S.-listed technology-related companies.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.35% for this ETF, which makes it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For XNTK, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 81.9% of the portfolio --while Telecom and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Micron Technology Inc (MU) accounts for about 9.16% of total assets, followed by Marvell Technology Inc (MRVL) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
XNTK's top 10 holdings account for about 51.03% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, XNTK return is roughly 31.67%, and is up roughly 24.93% in the last one year (as of 10/29/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $244.17 and $392.56.
The ETF has a beta of 1.45 and standard deviation of 26.92% for the trailing three-year period. With about 37 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) tracks Technology Select Sector Index and the Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF Shares (VGT) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 Index. State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF has $125.51 billion in assets, Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF Shares has $151.56 billion. XLK has an expense ratio of 0.08% and VGT changes 0.09%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Technology 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.
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State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF (XNTK): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
