News

The First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (SKYY) was launched on 05/27/2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Technology - Cloud Computing segment of the equity market.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Cloud Computing is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 12, placing it in bottom 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $2.91 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Cloud Computing segment of the equity market. SKYY seeks to match the performance of the ISE Cloud Computing Index before fees and expenses.

The ISE Cloud Computing Index is a modified market capitalization weighted index designed to track the performance of companies actively involved in the cloud computing industry.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.60%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 85.10% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Oracle Corporation (ORCL) accounts for about 4.30% of total assets, followed by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and Alphabet Inc. (class A) (GOOGL).

The top 10 holdings account for about 36.18% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, SKYY has added about 5.30%, and is up about 19.66% in the last one year (as of 06/18/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $70.93 and $97.12.

The ETF has a beta of 1.06 and standard deviation of 31.43% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 66 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Cloud Computing ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, SKYY is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Global X Cloud Computing ETF (CLOU) tracks INDXX GLOBAL CLOUD COMPUTING INDEX and the WisdomTree Cloud Computing ETF (WCLD) tracks BVP NASDAQ EMERGING CLOUD INDEX. Global X Cloud Computing ETF has $433.85 million in assets, WisdomTree Cloud Computing ETF has $474.20 million. CLOU has an expense ratio of 0.68% and WCLD charges 0.45%.

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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First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (SKYY): ETF Research Reports

Oracle Corporation (ORCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Global X Cloud Computing ETF (CLOU): ETF Research Reports

WisdomTree Cloud Computing ETF (WCLD): ETF Research Reports

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Zacks Investment Research

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.