“The political environment favors investment in the Aerospace and Defense industry. Both ITA and PPA appear to be better positioned than the S&P 500 in general for a rising interest rate economic environment. Technical analysis shows that there doesn’t appear to be any significant advantage to wait as a breakout could happen at any time,” according to a Seeking Alpha analysis of the various Aerospace ETFs.
Trump has criticized the “revolving door” nature of the industry as many who negotiated the deals between the government and firms often end up working for the industry down the line.
ITA, a cap-weighted ETF and the largest of the aerospace ETFs, is higher by nearly 27% over the past year, but has traded modestly lower to start 2017 and is currently finding support at its 20-day moving average.
“In my opinion, ITA is the better choice of ETF, given lower management expenses and greater assets under management, understanding that there may be slightly higher risk going forward due to less cash on hand in a rising interest rate environment,” according to Seeking Alpha.
For more information on the defense industry, visit our aerospace & defense category.