Tag Archives: Zacks Funds

Rookie ETFs Of The Year: Two New ETFs That Are Standouts In 2015

MarketsMuse blog update profiles two ETFs that have become standouts so far this year. The ETFs iShares Exponential Tech ETF (XT) and SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF (TOTL) have been dubbed with the title according to Zacks’ Neena Mishra in her article, “2 New ETFs with Big Potential“, excerpts from the article are below. 

The ETF industry continues to grow exponentially, with a record $96 billion in global inflows during the first quarter, up more than 100% from a year ago. More than 70 ETFs have been launched in the US so far this year, taking the total number of ETFs to 1702 and total assets to over $2.1 trillion.

Below, we highlight two ETFs launched this year that stand out from the rest and in our view hold a lot of potential.

iShares Exponential Tech ETF (XT)

This ETF has attracted almost $647 million in assets since its inception in March, making it one of the most successful ETF launches. Investing in innovative technologies that have the potential to transform our lives is a very exciting concept. Further, this ETF includes not only developers but also users of promising technologies. So the coverage extends beyond the technology sector.

The idea for this ETF came from the famous financial advisor Ric Edelman and it is understood that some of the assets in this ETF came from his clients. Investors should note some of these disruptive technologies stocks have been quite hot lately and so this ETF is not really attractive looking at the valuation but companies focused on cutting edge technologies definitely have the potential to deliver superior return over time and this ETF could be a solid choice for long-term investing.

SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical ETF (TOTL)

Bond markets have confounded most analysts and investors of late. Yields plunged last year when almost everybody was expecting them to go up. Over the past few months, the bond market has seen erratic swings and we have also seen substantial flattening of the yield curve.

As the Fed gets ready to raise interest rates, shorter-term rates have been going up but longer-term rates have actually declined, thanks mainly to massive demand from foreign investors since interest rates in Europe and Japan are so low.

To continue reading about these two standout new ETFs, click here

Twitter’s Weak Q1 Jolts Social ETFs

MarketsMuse blog update profiles the disappointing Q1 for Twitter and the impact it is having on social media ETFs such as Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO), Global X Social Media Index ETF(SOCL) and ARK Web x.0 ETF (ARKW). This MarketsMuse update is courtesy of Zacks Equity Research and their article, “Twitter Tweets a Weak Q1 & Soft View, ETFs in Focus“, with an excerpt below. 

On April 28, Twitter (TWTR) came up with a weak Q1 and a disappointing guidance. The social networking site then saw a freefall in its share price as it failed to live up to many investors’ expectations.


Q1 in Detail

The company’s first-quarter 2015 non-GAAP loss per share (including the stock-based compensation expense) of 20 cents was a penny ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Excluding the stock-based compensation expense, the company earned 7 cents per share on a pro forma basis.

Revenues of $436 million in the quarter fell shy of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $455 million. ‘A lower-than-expected contribution from newer direct response marketing products’ was held responsible for lower-than-expected revenues. However, revenues grew about 74% year over year.

Market Impact

This subdued performance dampened investors’ mood as the stock was severely beaten down in recent trading sessions. Following the earnings leak on April 28, about 40 minutes ahead of the closing bell, Twitter shares saw a landslide, plunging over 18% for the key trading session of April 28 on about fourth times the regular volume.

Shares slid about 8.9% on April 29. However, after such a massive sell-off for consecutive two days, Twitter stock recouped 0.94% after hours. Year to date, the stock is still up 8.3%.

Twitter does not have a sizable exposure in the overall ETF world with only three ETFs – Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO), Global X Social Media Index ETF(SOCL) and ARK Web x.0 ETF ((ARKW – ETF report)) – having major exposure of 8.17%, 3.66% and 3.20% respectively, at present. Such a huge fall in one of the major components should impact these ETFs.  Below, we have discussed these three funds in detail:

To continue reading about Twitter’s disappoint Q1’s impact on ETFs, click here

Zacks To Launch Yield Payout, MLP ETFs

Zacks Funds, a Chicago-based financial research firm and mutual fund manager, on June 20 plans to roll out through Exchange Traded Concepts’ ETF platform a pair of ETFs-one focused on dividend-paying stocks and the other serving up exposure to master limited partnerships.

At heart, both the Zacks Sustainable Dividend ETF (NasdaqGM:ZDIV) and the Zacks MLP ETF (NasdaqGM:ZMLP) are designed to serve up yield potential. ZDIV, costing 0.70 percent a year, invests in 100 U.S. dividend-paying stocks selected from a universe of 1,500 large-cap securities. ZMLP invests in 25 to 50 U.S.-listed MLPs and costs 0.75 percent.

Both funds track proprietary benchmarks that apply a quantitative rules-based multifactor methodology to pick and weight only the securities that show the highest yield potential from their respective market segments.

The two funds will be listed on Nasdaq, the No. 2 U.S. stock exchange that has a growing presence in the world of ETF primary listings.

ZDIV’s underlying index is split into two equal subindexes, each comprising 50 stocks-the underlying securities are chosen and weighted based on liquidity and yield. The rebalancing takes place monthly, but in an alternating fashion:Each subindex is rebalanced only every other month so that each group of securities is held for 61 days, according to information the company provided in the prospectus. Continue reading