The stock is not all the way back, but Apple (NasdaqGM: AAPL) is starting to get its act together. Following Tuesday’s Carl Icahn-induced 4.75% gain, shares of the iPad maker are up more than 14% in the past month. Tuesday’s gain also helped Apple pare its year-to-date loss to just over 10%.
While the stock still has a long way to go to reclaim its all-time high, $212 is the long way, the shares are perking up and that is good news for some ETFs with significant Apple exposure. Those funds include the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (NYSEArca: IYW) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLK). [Tech ETFs Surging on Apple]
The iShares Global Tech ETF (NYSEArca: IXN) is among that group and should be forgotten as an Apple ETF play. As of Monday, the $550.1 million IXN had a 12.8% weight to Apple, but with the company’s expanding market value, the stock should take on an even more prominent role within the fund. At 12.8%, Apple is 660 basis points larger than IXN’s second-largest holding, Microsoft (NasdaqGM: MSFT). [Some Tech ETFs for a Slice of Apple]
IXN is one of five ETFs that feature Apple as the largest holding with a double-digit allocation. With “global” being part of the fund’s name, it would be reasonable to expect significant international exposure. In reality, the U.S. accounts for 78.6% of IXN’s weight and just one non-U.S. company, Apple rival Samsung, is featured among the ETF’s top-10 holdings. Japan and South Korea are IXN’s next largest country weights after the U.S., combining for about 10% of the ETF’s weight.
Although IXN is not heavy on companies that are based outside of the U.S., the ETF is useful as a global exposure play because of the tech’s sector dependence on revenue derived from outside the U.S. The technology sector, among the ten economic sectors, has the most exposure to international sales, with 60.4% of computer hardware and 84.4% of semiconductor sales in overseas markets