Going to the hospital is rarely pleasurable, but investing in hospital stocks can be profitable. That much has been proven by the SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF (NYSEArca: XHS), an unheralded ETF that is up 28.2% year-to-date.
While XHS has just $55.6 million in assets under management and does not grab a lot of attention, it does have a quasi-competitor in the form of the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (NYSEArca: IHF). IHF, itself a stout performer this year, has gained prominence for its utility as a winning Obamacare ETF. [Obamacare Makes This ETF Look Good]
XHS is a credible Obamacare ETF in its own right. Here is why: Exposure to hospitals. IHF allocates nearly its entire weight to health insurance firms and related entities. As more of an equal-weight ETF, XHS features a 16% weight to health care distributors, a 21.7% allocation to managed care firms, an almost 31% stake in health care services companies and a 31.5% to health care facilities operators.