Invesco PowerShares is set to launch two sector exchange-traded funds on Thursday, one focusing on global transportation stocks and the other global biotech firms.

While neither will be the first in their respective niches, they offer different takes on each sector that set them apart from their competitors. The funds are: the Global Progressive Transportation Portfolio (NASDAQ: PTRP) and the Global Biotech Portfolio (Nasdaq: PBTQ).

New Transportation ETF

PTRP enters as a direct competitor to the iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average Index (NYSEArca: IYT). It will also no doubt grab some attention from investors interested in the recently opened Claymore Securities Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSEArca: SEA).

But PTRP has an energy twist. The PowerShares transportation ETF is based on the Nasdaq OMX Wilder Global Efficient Transportation Index. It's targeting, among other emerging technologies, the makers of lithium batteries and fuel cell technology. The index also includes companies such as scooter maker Vespa and bicycle manufacturer Shimano, as well as companies in the public transportation area.

IYT mirrors the Dow Jones Transportation Index, which is concentrated in 21 stocks and in which the trucking, railroad and freight sectors dominate. Its top holdings as of Aug. 31 included: Burlington Northern, Federal Express, Union Pacific, United Parcel Service, Overseas ShipholdingGroup and Norfolk Southern.

Another notable difference between IYT and PTRP is the new ETF's global orientation. PTRP holds approximately 42% of its assets in U.S. stocks. That's the largest country concentration in the fund, with Canada holding the second-greatest country weight (10%), followed by Taiwan (7.8%) and Japan (7.3%).

By contrast, IYT's benchmark is comprised solely of U.S. companies.

In each of the new PowerShares fund's four main sectors—alternative vehicles, rail and subway systems, transportation, innovation and intermodal—PTRP's index has holdings from South America, Europe and Asia along with North America. It is also equal-weighted across the four sectors.

The new Claymore Securities shipping ETF is also global in nature (see related story).

Not to leave any confusion in the minds of investors, however, PTRP is not a clean energy or sustainability play in terms of its competitive positioning in the market, like the three existing PowerShares clean energy funds based on indexes from WilderShares LLC. It is a transportation fund, first and foremost, and that can be clearly seen in the index's second level of holdings, where "old" transportation abounds, including railroad heavyweights CSX and Union Pacific. A notable exception comes in the transportation area where there's an absence of any car manufacturers, even hybrid leaders Toyota and Honda Motor Co.

Rob Wilder, chief executive of index provider WilderShares, says among car manufacturers, Honda would be the most likely to be added to the index first, and there will be room, in general, for the inclusion of the makers of small hybrid cars and plug-in cars.

Global Biotech ETF

Also on Thursday, PowerShares is planning to launch its Global Biotech Portfolio (Nasdaq: PBTQ), based on the NASDAQ OMX Global Biotech Index.

The index targets the largest and most liquid biotech stocks and uses a modified market-cap-weighting methodology, with quarterly rebalancing. No single name is allowed to comprise more than 8% of the benchmark's total holdings.

Some big biotech funds already are available in the market, most notably the $1.78 billion iShares Nasdaq Biotech Index (AMEX: IBB). But PBTQ's global twist is the differentiating factor.

Specifically, besides IBB, the following pure-plays in the field target domestic stocks: the First Trust AMEX Biotech Index (AMEX: FBT) and the Biotech SPDR (AMEX: XBI). In fact, PowerShares already has an existing ETF as well—its Dynamic Biotech and Genome Portfolio (AMEX: PBE). 

IBB is the broadest fund, holding 149 securities, whereas the SPDR and First Trust's FBT hold fewer than 30 securities. PowerShares' existing PBE differentiates itself by way of its more active management approach. It uses an Intellidex index, which is based on quantitative methodologies. According to Morningstar, PBE has a turnover rate of 91% per year.

As a group, considerable overlap can be found among the various biotech ETFs. In the newest competitor in the sector, PBTQ's biggest holdings in its underlying index as of June 30 were: Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Genentech, Celgene and Genzyme (all with 8% weights); CSL, Biogen Idec, Actelion and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (all with 4% weights); and Cephalon slightly below at a 3.87% weight.

The XBI ETF shared eight of the top 10 holdings of PBTQ. At the same time, IBB shared six of these top 10 holdings and FBT shared five of the top 10 holdings—as does the existing PowerShares biotech play, PBE.

Overall, every one of the funds has between 48% to 53% of its holdings in its top 10 stock weights.

All the funds have their heaviest weighting to the mid-cap sector. But PBTQ may most closely resemble IBB in targeting the largest and most liquid companies in the sector. IBB is the only biotech portfolio that has almost as large of a weighting in the Morningstar "giant" stock category (26%) as it does in mid-cap stocks (27%). XBI has 13.7% in giant stocks and 43% in mid-cap stocks, as of Aug. 31; FBT had 15.8% in giant socks and 41.3% in mid-caps; while PBE had 17% in giant stocks and 43% in mid-caps, as of July 31.

On an expense ratio basis, the new PowerShares fund is the most costly, at 0.75% annually; IBB charges 0.48%; FBT charges 0.60%; XBI charges 0.35%; and PBE charges 0.63%.