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The idea of investing in drones may sound boring.
But once you drill down into its growth, there’s plenty to get excited for.
For one, the global drone market is taking off. Projected to soar from about $8.8 billion in market value to more than $82.5 billion by 2032, it’s already sending stocks AeroVironment (SYM: AVAV), Draganfly (SYM: DPRO), L3Harris Technologies (SYM: LHX) flying higher.
Helping, Chinese manufacturers currently dominate the global drone market, with market share estimated anywhere from 70% to 90%. But that scenario is now changing in a big way. The U.S. defense industry, state and local law enforcement agencies, and even commercial entities are banning Chinese-made drones and components due to national security concerns. That’s another major catalyst for the drone stocks we just mentioned.
Even better, drones are seeing big demand in the U.S. military, for crop monitoring and spraying with agriculture, logistics for delivery and warehousing, in the oil and gas industry, in mining and construction, in emergency management, and in renewable energy projects.
While you can always invest in some of the drone companies mentioned above, we can also take a look at exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that could benefit.
iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF (SYM: ITA)
The iShares US Aerospace & Defense ETF invests in stocks in the domestic aerospace and defense sector. These stocks can include companies that manufacture both commercial and military aircraft as well as other types of defense-related equipment.
Some of its hottest investments are in drone stocks, including GE Aerospace and RTX Corp., which are the fund’s top holdings. GE Aerospace has a weighting of 21.04%. RTX has a weighting of 14.42% at the moment.
ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (SYM: ARKQ)
This Cathie Wood ETF also holds drone stocks, such as Kratos Defense & Security, which has a weighting of 9.7% and AeroVironment, which has a weighting of 3.67%.
With an expense ratio of 0.75%, the ARKQ ETF invests about 80% of its assets in domestic and foreign equity securities of autonomous technology and robotics companies that are relevant to the Fund’s investment theme of disruptive innovation, says ARK-funds.com.
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Written by Ian Cooper