iShares S&P Global Healthcare (IXJ) or iShares Dow Jones US Pharmaceuticals (IHE)?

Even though health-care and pharmaceuticals have been struggling for some time, there are some possible places where they could perform nicely for investors, including ETFs iShares S&P Global Healthcare (NYSE:IXJ) and iShares Dow Jones US Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:IHE).

Looking at the two ETFs above, there are a couple of characteristics to consider.

For iShares S&P Global Healthcare, that ETF covers a more global set of large health-care companies, and so would appear to have an advantage at this time over iShares Dow Jones US Pharmaceuticals, which is focused in the U.S.

The iShares Dow Jones US Pharmaceuticals is more risky because of its focus entirely in the U.S., but also because of how the ETF is weighted, where over 25 percent is represented by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Merck (NYSE:MRK)

With the risk so strong on country and company, if you understand and like a particular health or pharma company, it would probably make more sense to invest in the company directly than the ETF as it's now weighted.