Under The Hood: Big Opportunities With Small Oil?

There are easier things to do in the ETF business than try to capture investors' attention with a new equity-based oil ETF. Without making the leap to saying this niche of the ETF universe is saturated, it is fair to say that a few ETFs such as the Oil Services HOLDRs OIH, the Energy Select Sector SPDR XLE and the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF XOP enjoy dominant positions in the market. With that, ETF issuers need to bring something different to the table when they roll out a new oil ETF that focuses on stocks and that's what IndexIQ did last month with the introduction of the IQ Global Oil Small Cap ETF IOIL, today's “Under The Hood” candidate. While it is clear by IOIL's name that this is an ETF that will not be heavy on the likes of Exxon Mobil XOM or Chevron CVX, it also doesn't mean you'll be getting involved with an ETF littered with speculative penny stocks that are the subject of audacious claims in those dumb emails so many of us get. Actually, the weighted averaged market cap of IOIL's 61 constituents is over $3 billion. By definition, small-cap territory ends at $2 billion, so IOIL is perhaps more of a mid-cap play than its title implies. With a weight of over 6.1%, Sunoco SUN is the ETF's top holding and with a market cap of about $4.75 billion. Other top holdings such as Oceaneering International OII and Core Labs CLB are also clearly mid-cap names, giving conservative investors some element of comfort with IOIL. At just six weeks old and given the fact that oil has been in a slump for most of that time, we're not going to be overly harsh on IOIL. In fact, it is fair to say that the ETF does what it needs to do to ensure it does attract assets going forward and that is offering investors exposure to names like Core Labs, a good stock that isn't well-represented in a slew of other oil ETFs. That's just one example as IOIL features those types of names in bulk. While IOIL's expense ratio of 0.75% is a tad high, the ETF deserves another nod for a compelling sub-sector mix of over 40% refiners, 37% E&P and the rest to oil services. While not the entire reason to buy IOIL, it is worth noting that most oil ETFs focus on one of those niches and if they offer exposure to all three, it isn't on a percentage basis that is comparable to what IOIL offers. Bottom line: You don't need to buy IOIL today, but it is one to keep an eye on.