Top 5 ETFs for 2011

For the past three years I have released a list of top ten stocks for the year ahead. This year I decided to do a list of the top ETFs for the year. Prices are from 12/31/10.




Listed in alphabetical oder by symbol:


ECH-Chile
$79.60

This ETF charges 0.61% and is offered by Ishares. The company invests in companies based in Chile. Utilities is the largest weighting with 23% of the ETF. Chile is growing and is expected to be one of the top Latin American regions for GDP growth in 2011. Look to get in on this growing country ETF as middle class rises.

MOO-Agribusiness
$53.54

This ETF charges 0.59% and is offered by Van Eck Global. The company has 47 holdings in the agriculture industry. The top ten holdings are Monsanto, Potash, Mosaic, Deere, Wilmar, Yara International, Syngenta, Archer Daniels Midland, Brasil Foods, and Agrium. The top three holdings are all around 8% of the ETF. The company has great exposure to food stocks and to agriculture equipment stocks as well. Agriculture stocks were up in 2010 and I believe they will continue to raise in 2011. This is a great fund to be in this next year.

PALL-Palladium
$79.86

This ETF charges 0.60 and is offered by ETF Securities. The ETF was introduced in 2010 and holds physical palladium. The precious metal is used in technology and in cars. The metal has had a nice runup and I believe that will continue in 2011.

XLK-Technology
$25.19

This ETF charges 0.22% and is offered by State Street. The company focuses on the technology sector.The company's top ten holdings are Apple, Microsoft, IBM, ATT, Google, Oracle, Cisco, Verizon, Intel, and Qualcomm. The company holds 85 stock positions (as of 12/31/10). I love the technology industry for 2011 as the talk of cloud computing and internet storage heats up. Apple is the largest holding at 12% so if you were thinking of investing in Apple why not get some exposure here plus the added safety and bonus of technology.

XLV-Healthcare
$31.50

This ETF charges 0.22% and is offered by State Street. The company holds 51 stocks in the healthcare sector. The company's top ten holdings include Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Medtronic, UnitedHealthGroup, Eli Lilly, and Express Scripts. Johnson and Johnson makes up 13.63% and Pfizer makes up 11.25% of the ETF. Those two holdings are almost a quarter of the entire ETF. I like both of those stocks for 2011 and also like that the ETF has exposure to Gilead, Celgene, Genzyme, and Biogen. Look at this ETF for the healthcare rise in 2011.


Those are my top five ETFs for 2011. I will update throughout the year and may provide more ETF picks.