Aging population fuels these ETFs

Article Excerpt

There’s little doubt that the developing world’s aging population will continue to spend more on medical services for years to come. Medical device makers are well positioned to capture a share of that increased spending. In turn, investors in the industry’s leading companies stand to benefit from growing demand. Medical-device ETFs aim to provide a diversifed and low-fee way for investors to participate in this expanding industry beyond one or two leading stocks. Here are two of a growing number of those ETFs (see the supplement on page 69 for more information on this segment). ISHARES U.S. MEDICAL DEVICES ETF $205 (New York symbol IHI; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $1.8 billion) invests in U.S. firms that produce and distribute medical devices. The ETF aims to track the Dow Jones Medical Equipment Index. The fund holds manufacturers and distributors of medical devices such as magnetic resonance imaging scanners, prosthetics, pacemakers, X-ray machines, and other non-disposable medical devices. While there are 55 different…