7 Best-Performing Biotech ETFs for September 2024 - NerdWallet (2024)

The world’s largest biotech and pharmaceutical companies are constantly racing to find new vaccines, treatments and cures.

Investing in individual stocks always brings risks, but investing in biotech stocks can seem especially vexing to investors, given the complexities of the biotech product development process. There is, however, another option: biotech ETFs.

Best-performing biotech ETFs

Source: Finviz. Data is current as of Sept. 3, 2024, and is intended for informational purposes only, not for trading purposes.

How biotech ETFs work

Biotech exchange-traded funds let you invest in a basket of health care companies through a single investment.

These ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the day just like individual stock, but there’s a major difference between these products and stock shares: Buying shares of an ETF spreads your risk across a wide range of companies, so that the losses of the underperformers are offset by the gains of the outperformers.

When buying individual stocks, you’re pinning all your hopes on the success of one company.

What’s more, these funds track indexes — meaning they invest in each of the stocks contained in a predefined area of the stock market — so you won’t pay a higher fee (commonly referred to as an ETF’s “expense ratio”) for a manager to pick and choose investments for you.

So when might investors seek out biotech ETFs, as opposed to broader ETFs or funds that track other sectors? Global health scares like the coronavirus pandemic may bring to the fore biotech companies’ research, clinical trials, treatments and cures.

That additional attention could influence consumer sentiment, and as both retail and institutional investors race to buy shares of companies that may benefit from particular product development, the sector as a whole could see a lift in stock prices.

Understanding biotech ETF holdings

The companies ETFs invest in are called holdings. These may include some of the world’s most established and largest companies (think Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca) as well as smaller, less-experienced firms. But regardless of size, each will be assigned a specific “weight” in the ETF that determines how much the fund invests in a particular holding.

For example, shares of biopharmaceutical company Amgen Inc. make up (as of this writing) 9.55% of the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF — the largest holding in the fund, which tracks an index of biotech and pharmaceutical companies listed on the Nasdaq. Looking at an ETF’s holdings and their corresponding weights can help you determine if it’s the right fund for you.

Want to invest in smaller companies with a higher potential return in exchange for higher risk? There’s an ETF for that. Want to stick with the pharmaceutical giants with historically less volatility? There are plenty of those, too.

However, it’s important to note that sector ETFs are still often riskier than S&P 500 or total stock market ETFs — even the largest sector ETFs won’t offer the full diversification benefits of a broad market fund.

» Quick tip: If you know of a company or companies you’re interested in investing in, you could search for an ETF based on that particular holding using a stock exposure tool. For example, if you wanted to find all ETFs that invest in Moderna, just put in its stock ticker, MRNA, and the tool will display all ETFs that feature Moderna in their top holdings. Some brokerages, like Vanguard, offer this tool for account holders.

How to choose a biotech ETF

When researching biotech ETFs, you can get a sense of their risk level by looking at their top 10 holdings, focusing primarily on those that are most heavily weighted. From there, take into consideration the market capitalization of these holdings. In general, companies with larger market caps often tend to be less volatile than those with smaller market caps.

The Virtus LifeSci Biotech Clinical Trials ETF, for example, invests in companies currently conducting clinical trials. Many of these companies are small- and mid-caps with high growth potential. However, high growth potential also typically means high risk.

How to buy biotech ETFs

1. Get a brokerage account

To buy a biotech ETF, you’ll need a brokerage account. With low or zero account minimums, no trading fees and all-online transactions, many brokerage accounts are much more accessible than they used to be.

2. Research

Once you're set with a brokerage account, determine if there are specific companies you’d like to invest in, whether that’s smaller, high-growth biotechs or larger, more established health care and pharmaceutical companies. This research will help you decide what your risk tolerance is and will point you in the right direction when you start looking at different ETFs.

3. Compare ETFs

Analyze the ETFs outlined in this article or run your own ETF screen through your online broker, and take a look through their holdings, which are clearly identified on a fund’s web page. Scroll through the holdings to see which companies the fund invests in and how heavily weighted each one is, or use a stock exposure tool to find ETFs that include a company you identified in your earlier research.

» Want more options? Compare the best ETFs

4. Make the trade

Once you’re set up with a brokerage, follow the steps outlined here to buy the ETF you’re looking for, and you'll be on your way to supporting health care and biotech companies — big and small — that are addressing some of the world's most pressing health issues.

Learn more about sector ETFs: