Thursday, December 17, 2020

First Trust to merge two Value Line ETFs: RIP FVD

First Trust Value Line Dividend Index Fund | FVD
First Trust Value Line 100 Exchange-Traded Fund | FVL

Summary of  merger:
  • FVD to be merged into FVL.
  • Shareholders of FVD will receive shares of FVL.
  • Last day of trading of FVD was December 16, 2020.










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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

SimplifyETFs to list four ETFs next week on NYSE Arca

Simplify Volt Fintech Disruption ETF | VFIN
Expense ratio: 1.03%
CUSIP: 82889N707

Simplify Volt Pop Culture Disruption ETF | POP
Expense ratio: 1.03%
CUSIP: 82889N806

Simplify Volt RoboCar Disruption ETF | VCAR
Expense ratio: 1.09%
CUSIP: 82889N889

Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF | VCLO
Expense ratio: 1.02%
CUSIP: 82889N871




Characteristics common to all four funds

Investment Universe: Global equity securities and ETFs.



Each fund will have both an equity strategy consistent with its investment theme, and an option overlay strategy.

Equity Strategy

Companies that derive a significant portion of their revenue or market value from the stated investment them of the fund.
Companies that have stated that their primary business is focused on the particular investment theme.


Option Overlay Strategy

Each fund's option overlay is to attempt to enhance returns on up markets and to mitigate losses on down markets. It will be applied to 20% of each fund's net assets and consists of:
  • Buying puts on individual securities and puts on broad market indexes and index ETFs.
  • Buy calls on individual securities.



Original filing date: September 14, 2020
 
Adviser: Simplify Asset Management Inc
Sub-Adviser: Volt Equity LLC

Prospectus is here.






Specific Fund Characteristics



Simplify Volt Fintech Disruption ETF | VFIN

Equity Strategy

Invests in Fintech disruptive companies that:
(i) derive a significant portion of their revenue or market value from the theme of financial technology (“Fintech”) disruption or 
(ii) have stated their primary business to be in products and services focused on the theme of Fintech disruption.

Fintech Disruption are companies that may develop, use or rely on: 
  • innovative payment platforms and methodologies
  • point of sale providers
  • e-commerce
  • transactional innovations
  • business analytics
  • fraud reduction
  • frictionless funding platforms
  • peer-to-peer lending
  • intermediary exchanges
  • asset allocation technology
  • blockchain technologies
  • cryptocurrency
  • mobile payments

VFIN will not directly or indirectly invest in cryptocurrencies but will invest in companies that support cryptocurrencies or blockchain.

VFIN will invest up to 25% of the Fund’s assets in Square, Inc. and up to 25% of the Fund’s assets in Adyen N.V.



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Simplify Volt Pop Culture Disruption ETF | POP

Equity Strategy

Invests in Pop Culture disruptive companies that:
(i) derive a significant portion of their revenue or market value from the theme of pop culture disruption or 
(ii) have stated their primary business to be in products and services focused on the theme of pop culture disruption.
 

Pop culture disruption companies are companies that focus on and benefit from innovations in:
  • disruptive innovation in social media (“Social Media Companies”)
  • streaming media (“Streaming Media Companies”)
  • Internet of Things (“Internet of Things Companies”)



These types of companies are described below:
  • Social Media Companies
    • Companies that use website and/or applications to allow people to share media quickly, efficiently and in real time.
  • Streaming Media Companies
    • Companies that deliver media such as video or audio through a streaming medium. These companies rely on consumers having a stable and fast enough internet connection to consume digital products continuously.
  • Internet of Things Companies
    • Companies that deliver media through platforms that do not include the traditional platforms of television, phone or computer.
 

VPOP will invest up to 25% of the Fund’s assets in Spotify Technology S.A. and up to 25% of the Fund’s assets in Snap, Inc.

 

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Simplify Volt RoboCar Disruption ETF | VCAR

Equity Strategy

Invests in robocar disruption and technology companies that:
(i) derive a significant portion of their revenue or market value from the theme of robocar disruption and technology or 
(ii) have stated their primary business to be in products and services focused on the theme of robocar disruption and technology.


 

Robocar companies are companies that the sub-adviser believes are expected to focus on and benefit from the development of new products or services, technological improvements and advancements in scientific research related to, among other things, disruptive innovation in 
  • autonomous transportation (“Autonomous Driving Companies”)
  • electric energy (“Electric Energy Companies”)
  • artificial intelligence (“Artificial Intelligence Companies”)

These types of companies are described below:
  • Autonomous Driving Companies. Companies that the sub-adviser believes are focused on transportation through an emphasis on mobility as a service.
  • Electric Energy Companies. Companies that the sub-adviser believes seek to capitalize on innovations or evolutions in: (i) ways that energy is stored or used, especially electric battery storage technologies and/or (ii) the production or development of new materials for use in commercial applications of energy production, use or storage, such as solar energy.
  • Artificial Intelligence Companies.  Companies that leverage data collection and artificial intelligence methods to extract data, insights or products through artificial intelligence.

VCAR will invest up to 25% of the Fund’s assets in Tesla, Inc.




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Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF | VCLO

Equity Strategy


Invests in cloud and cybersecurity companies that:
(i) derive a significant portion of their revenue or market value from the theme of cloud and cybersecurity disruption or 
(ii) have stated that their primary business to be in products and services focused on the theme of cloud or cybersecurity disruption.

Cloud and Cybersecurity are those companies that the sub-adviser believes are focused on and expected to benefit from shifting the bases of technology infrastructure from hardware and software to the cloud, enabling mobile and local services, such as companies that rely on or benefit from the increased use of shared technology, infrastructure and services. 


These companies may include mail order houses which generate the entirety of their business through websites and which offer internet-based products and services, such as streaming media or cloud storage in addition to traditional physical goods. These companies may also include ones that develop, use or rely on innovative payment methodologies, big data, the “internet of things,” machine learning, and social distribution and media.


These companies may include disruptive innovation in data management or cybersecurity:
  • Data Management Companies
    • Companies that store and manage data for other companies in the cloud.
  • Cybersecurity Companies
    • Companies that help secure the technical infrastructure of other companies.
 

The Fund will invest up to 25% of its assets in Crowdstrike Holdings, Inc. and up to 25% of its assets in Snowflake, Inc.

 












"Unlock the Power of Disruptive Convexity"







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Direxion to list new low waste ETF on Friday

Direxion World Without Waste ETF
Ticker: WWOW
Exchange: NYSE
Expense ratio: 0.50%
Filing date: September 10, 2020
Listing Date: December 18, 2020
 
CUSIP25460G641
 
Index: Indxx US Circular Economy Index
Constituents: 50
Index provider: Indxx
 
Prospectus is here.


Index Description

The Index is to be comprised of issuers that are representative of the economy shifting from a linear (one user and/or one use) model to a circular one (multi-owner and/or re-use). 

The Index begins with a universe of U.S. listed securities and ADRs that derive 50% or more of their revenue from the following categories: 
sustainability of resources, 
  1. sharing platforms
  2. resource recovery
  3. product as a service
  4. life cycle extension

The sustainability of resources investment category includes companies that provide renewable energy, bio-based, or fully recyclable input material to replace single-lifecycle inputs and includes companies categorized as solar, wind, or hydro power, geothermal energy, biomass, biofuels, agriculture science, and energy-efficient solutions. 

The sharing platform investment category includes companies that enable an increased utilization rate of products by making possible shared use/access/ownership and includes companies categorized as peer-to-peer lending, sharing spaces, knowledge, content and talent sharing, crowd funding, aggregators, collaborative platforms, and software, platforms or infrastructure as services. 

The resource recovery investment category includes companies that recover useful resources or energy from disposed products or by-products and includes companies in waste management. 

The product as a service investment category includes companies that offer product access and retain ownership to internalize benefits of circular resource productivity and includes companies in the subscription economy. The life cycle extension investment category includes companies that extend the working lifecycle of products and components by repairing, upgrading, and reselling products or components.




The Index Provider will include the top 10 companies from each category as determined by largest total market capitalization. If there are fewer than 10 companies in a category, then companies from the other categories with more than 10 companies will be included based on a company’s total market capitalization until there are 50 companies in the Index.




Securities and ADRs included in the Index must be listed in the U.S.; have a minimum market capitalization of $500 million; have average daily turnover greater than, or equal to, $2 million; and be traded on 90% of the eligible trading days in the prior 6 months. The companies in the Index are equal weighted and rebalanced and reconstituted annually.


As of October 30, 2020, the Index was comprised of 47 constituents, which had a median total market capitalization of $27.5 billion, total market capitalizations ranging from $496.6 million to $749.4 billion, and were concentrated in the information technology, consumer discretionary, and induatrials sectors.













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ProShares switch primary listing exchange for 4 ETFs today from NYSE to CBOE

ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (VIXY)
ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (UVXY)
ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (SVXY)
ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF (VIXM)

Effective December 16, 2020
From NYSE arca to CBOE

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Fidelity files for two new active investment grade fixed income ETFs

Fidelity® Investment Grade Bond ETF
Fidelity® Investment Grade Securitized ETF

Effective date: February 24, 2021

Prospectus is here.






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Fidelity® Investment Grade Bond ETF
Ticker: FIGB

Investment Objective
The fund seeks a high level of current income.

Principal Investment Strategies
  • Normally investing at least 80% of assets in investment-grade debt securities (those of medium and high quality) of all types and repurchase agreements for those securities.
  • Managing the fund to have similar overall interest rate risk to the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index.
  • Allocating assets across different market sectors and maturities.
  • Investing in domestic and foreign issuers.
  • Analyzing the credit quality of the issuer, security-specific features, current and potential future valuation, and trading opportunities to select investments.
  • Investing in lower-quality debt securities (those of less than investment-grade quality, also referred to as high yield debt securities or junk bonds).
  • Engaging in transactions that have a leveraging effect on the fund, including investments in derivatives - such as swaps (interest rate, total return, and credit default), options, and futures contracts - and forward-settling securities, to adjust the fund's risk exposure.
https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/LBUSTRUU:IND


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Fidelity® Investment Grade Securitized ETF
Ticker: FSEC

Investment Objective
The fund seeks a high level of current income.

Principal Investment Strategies
  • Normally investing at least 80% of assets in investment-grade securitized debt securities (those of medium and high quality) and repurchase agreements for those securities.
  • Investing in securitized debt securities (including mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-backed securities, and other asset-backed securities) issued by the U.S. Government and its agencies or instrumentalities, foreign governments, and corporations.
  • Investing in U.S. Government securities issued by entities that are chartered or sponsored by Congress but whose securities are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury.
  • Managing the fund to have similar overall interest rate risk to the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Securitized Index.
  • Allocating assets across different market sectors and maturities.
  • Investing in domestic and foreign issuers.
  • Analyzing the credit quality of the issuer, security-specific features, current and potential future valuation, and trading opportunities to select investments.
  • Investing in lower-quality debt securities (those of less than investment-grade quality, also referred to as high yield debt securities or junk bonds).
  • Engaging in transactions that have a leveraging effect on the fund, including investments in derivatives - such as swaps (interest rate, total return, and credit default), options, and futures contracts - and forward-settling securities, to adjust the fund's risk exposure.

Securitized: US CMBS, Floating-Rate ABS, Agency CMBS

https://data.bloomberglp.com/professional/sites/10/Index-Methodology-2019-07-10.pdf











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Tuesday, December 15, 2020

AdvisorShares to list two ETFs before Christmas

 Target listing date of December 23



AdvisorShares Q Portfolio Blended Allocation ETF | QPT
AdvisorShares Q Dynamic Growth ETF  | QPX


Both are fund-of-funds, each investing in a portfolio of ETFs.


Sub-AdviserThinkBetter, LLC - Ron Piccinini, Ph.D, Chief Investment Officer at Sub-Adviser since May 2019
(Q Consulting)

Focus on tail risk (Dr Piccinini of ThinkBetter did his Ph.D on tail risk) as driver for investment signals.

ThinkBetter investment strategies provide investors with dynamic, passive and alternative strategies. We offer investment solutions using a qualitative and quantitative approach, primarily utilizing ETFs, equities and options, for institutions and their clients. ThinkBetter makes use of proprietary Q Methodology in the design and management of our portfolios.

Q Methodology™ generates a set of optimal portfolios that offer the highest expected return for a defined level of tail risk (which is the risk that an investment’s return will move significantly beyond expectations, i.e., more than three standard deviations from its mean) and expected drawdown. 


Prospectus is here.


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AdvisorShares Q Portfolio Blended Allocation ETF
Ticker: QPT
Exchange: NYSE arca
Expense ratio: 1.17%
Filing date: September 11, 2020
Effective date: November 25, 2020
Listing Date: December 22, 2020
CUSIP: 00768Y446

Strategy: Active

Universe: All asset classes of ETFs

The Fund seeks to strike a balance between long term growth and market volatility by maximizing returns relative to its peer group through a risk- and rewards-based approach to portfolio allocation.

Within the constraints of the expected drawdown, the Sub-Advisor then utilizes Q Methodology™, a proprietary risk analysis program, to determine the optimal risk/reward portfolio allocation.

Q Methodology™ generates a set of optimal portfolios that offer the highest expected return for a defined level of tail risk (which is the risk that an investment’s return will move significantly beyond expectations, i.e., more than three standard deviations from its mean) and expected drawdown. 


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AdvisorShares Q Dynamic Growth ETF
TickerQPX
ExchangeNYSE arca
Expense ratio1.46%
Filing dateSeptember 11, 2020
Effective dateNovember 25, 2020
Listing DateDecember 22, 2020
CUSIP00768Y438

Strategy: Active


The Fund seeks to maximize long-term growth by providing equity-like returns in most normal market conditions except when faced with abnormal levels of implied volatility as measured by QIX™, a proprietary implied volatility index owned by ThinkBetter,

QIX is a weighted average, computed daily, of implied volatilities of certain large ETFs representing different market sectors. Implied volatility is the market’s forecast of the likelihood of changes in a given security’s price. 

The greater a portfolio’s volatility, the wider the fluctuations between its high and low prices. 

In the event of implied volatility, the Fund takes a defensive position and seeks short-term fixed income returns. 

The Sub-Advisor seeks to achieve the desired results for the Fund by calibrating its portfolio to a tail risk and expected drawdown equivalent to the overall U.S. equity market.

Within the constraints of the expected drawdown, the Sub-Advisor then utilizes Q Methodology™, a proprietary risk analysis program, to determine the optimal risk/reward portfolio allocation. 

Q Methodology™ generates a set of optimal portfolios that offer the highest expected return for a defined level of tail risk and expected drawdown. The resulting portfolio for the Fund is composed of a diversified mix of investments, including equities, fixed income, and commodities that are held through ETFs.


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VanEck resurrects Social Media Buzz ETF

VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF

Ticker: BUZZ
Effective date: February 23, 2021
Listing date: March 4, 2021
Expense ratio: 0.75%


The underlying index for this fund was originally named the "BUZZ Social Media Insights Index". It was eventually renamed the "BUZZ NextGen AI US Sentiment Leaders Index™".

An ETF tracking the index was launched in April 2016 under the name 
"Sprott BUZZ Social Media Insights ETF (NYSE: BUZ)", but BUZ was shuttered in 2019.

Last week VanEck filed for an ETF that tracks this same index and named the fund the "VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF". The index contains 75 stocks of US companies picked based on their Insight Score, a measure arrived at with proprietary dark sorcery black box Artificial Intelligence and which indicates which stocks have social media "buzz".

The idea behind "buzz" is to harness the wisdom of the crowds and to anticipate stock price trends by observing the information/interest around stocks being generated in social media, and the individuals mentioning them.

Both the classification of social media mention (positive, negative, neutral) and the weight of the individual mentioning the stock are vulnerable to subjective settings in developing the AI used to score stocks.

However, over the 717 trading sessions over which BUZ was alive, it outperformed SPY by about 5%. Let's see how it fares now as "BUZZ" and under the management of VanEck.

Finally, BUZ charged a 0.75% expense ratio, so will be interesting to watch where VanEck prices BUZZ.



Index providerBUZZ Indexes
Constituents: 75


Strategy/Index Methodology

The BUZZ NextGen AI US Sentiment Leaders Index™ identifies the 75 large cap US stocks which exhibit the highest degree of positive investor sentiment and bullish perception. 

The insights are statistically derived using machine learning and artificial intelligence analysis techniques applied to millions of unique stock-specific data points. 

Content is aggregated from online sources including social media, news articles, blog posts and other alternative datasets.

The data is filtered through an analytics model which utilizes Natural Language Processing Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence Applications.

The BUZZ Process
1. From universe of US stocks BUZZ targets most mentioned across online sources including social media, news, and blogs
2. BUZZ classifies mentions as positive, negative, or neutral
3. BUZZ measures influence and historical accuracy of individuals mentioned aforementioned stocks
4. Stocks are assigned an "Insights Score"
5. 75 stocks with highest "Insight Score" are selected for index
6. Rebalanced monthly

Index Constituents as of November 23, 2020 in descending order of weight:
  1. Plug Power Inc.
  2. Snap Inc.
  3. Peloton Interactive Inc.
  4. Tesla Inc.
  5. Fastly Inc.
  6. Zoom Video Communications Inc.
  7. Twitter Inc.
  8. Boeing Co.
  9. Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
  10. Amazon.com Inc.
  11. Facebook Inc.
  12. Apple Inc.
  13. Netflix Inc.
  14. Microsoft Corp.
  15. Pfizer Inc.
  16. Pinterest Inc.
  17. General Electric Co.
  18. American Airlines Group Inc.
  19. Walt Disney Co.
  20. Gilead Sciences Inc.
  21. Roku Inc.
  22. Square Inc.
  23. Beyond Meat Inc.
  24. Alphabet Inc.
  25. Novavax Inc.
  26. Intel Corp.
  27. PayPal Holdings Inc.
  28. Carnival Corp.
  29. Ford Motor Co.
  30. AT&T Inc.
  31. NVIDIA Corp.
  32. Moderna Inc.
  33. Canopy Growth Corp.
  34. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  35. Cloudflare Inc.
  36. Uber Technologies Inc.
  37. Teladoc Health Inc.
  38. The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
  39. Exxon Mobil Corp.
  40. General Motors Co.
  41. Biogen Inc.
  42. Shopify Inc.
  43. Wells Fargo & Co.
  44. Hyatt Hotels Corp.
  45. Barrick Gold Corp.
  46. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
  47. Twilio Inc.
  48. Enphase Energy Inc.
  49. Bank of America Corp.
  50. Etsy Inc.
  51. Datadog Inc.
  52. Slack Technologies Inc.
  53. Trade Desk Inc.
  54. International Business Machine
  55. Penn National Gaming Inc.
  56. Simon Property Group Inc.
  57. Johnson & Johnson
  58. Chewy Inc.
  59. Occidental Petroleum Corp.
  60. Citigroup Inc.
  61. Morgan Stanley
  62. QUALCOMM Inc.
  63. DocuSign Inc.
  64. United Parcel Service Inc.
  65. Crowdstrike Holdings Inc.
  66. United Airlines Holdings Inc.
  67. Lyft Inc.
  68. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
  69. Zendesk Inc.
  70. Activision Blizzard Inc.
  71. CVS Health Corp.
  72. Eli Lilly and Co.
  73. McDonald’s Corp.
  74. Starbucks Corp.
  75. Delta Air Lines Inc.

BUZZ fund holdings can be found here.









Prospectus is here.


Index being calculated by Solactive:

Index guidelines (doesn't contain any information on the AI methodology: how do they expect anyone to replicate/track/verify the index?)











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JP Morgan files active short duration ETF - LISTED!

UPDATES IN RED



JPMorgan Short Duration Core Plus ETF

Ticker: JSCP
CUSIP: 46641Q274
Exchange: NYSE arca
Effective date: February 23, 2021
Listing date: March 2, 2021
Expense ratio: 0.33%

OBJECTIVE
Total return and preservation of capital. 

INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Benchmark: Bloomberg Barclays 1-5 Year Government/Credit Index

Eligible Securities / Investments
  • Investment grade bonds
  • Junk bonds
  • Foreign and emerging markets debt
  • Corporate bonds
  • US Treasury obligations
  • Other US Government and agency securities
  • Asset-backed
  • Mortgage-related and mortgage-backed securities
  • Mortgage TBAs
  • Private placements
  • Restricted securities and other unregistered securities
  • Variable and floating rate instruments

Securities Characteristics
  • At least 70% of fund's net assets in investment grade as rated by nationally recognized statistical rating organization
  • Max 30% of net assets in below investment grade
  • 25% of fund's assets may be invested in foreign securities
  • Duration of three years or less


Market Sector Exposure Ranges



Fund Investment Characteristics
  • At least 85% in USD or hedged back to USD
  • Max 25% in "sub-prime" mortgage-related securities
  • Fund may enter in "dollar rolls" (selling MBS and at the same time contracts to buy back very similar securities on a future date)
  • May use derivatives such as futures, options, swaps, and forward contracts for risk management and leverage.

Investment Process

The adviser uses both a top down and bottom up research process as well as a combination of fundamental and quantitative inputs to allocate the Fund’s assets among a range of sectors. 


Prospectus is here.

Final Prospectus is here.

Final Statement of Additional Information is here.




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What are the Fund’s main investment strategies?

Consistent with the Fund’s dual objective of seeking total return and preservation of capital, the Fund uses a multi-sector strategy in order to create a diversified portfolio that generates total return while managing risk. The Fund principally invests in traditional fixed income sectors (for example, investment grade corporate bonds), while also having the flexibility to allocate its assets to extended sectors such as below investment grade securities (also known as high yield or junk bonds) and foreign and emerging markets debt. The Fund may invest in corporate bonds, U.S. treasury obligations and other U.S. government and agency securities, asset-backed, mortgage-related and mortgage-backed securities, mortgage TBAs, private placements, credit risk transfer securities, credit-linked notes, restricted securities and other unregistered securities, and variable and floating rate instruments. Under normal conditions, at least 70% of the Fund’s net assets must be invested in securities that, at the time of purchase, are rated investment grade by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) or in securities that are unrated but are deemed by the adviser to be of comparable quality. The Fund will not invest more than 30% of its net assets in below investment grade securities (or the unrated equivalent) under normal conditions. Up to 25% of the Fund’s net assets may be invested in foreign securities including sovereign and agency debt.

The Fund seeks to maintain a duration of three years or less, although under certain market conditions such as in periods of significant volatility in interest rates and spreads, the Fund’s duration may be longer than three years. Duration is a measure of price sensitivity of a debt security or a portfolio of debt securities to relative changes in interest rates. For instance, a duration of “three years” means that a security’s or portfolio’s price would be expected to decrease by approximately 3% with a 1% increase in interest rates (assuming a parallel shift in yield curve).

The Fund may invest across the full range of market sectors. As of the date of this prospectus, ranges for certain broad market sectors are as follows. The Fund may change these ranges if J.P. Morgan Investment Inc. (JPMIM or the adviser) determines in its discretion that the market environment has significantly changed.

Market Sector
Min
Max
U.S. Treasury & Agency10%50%
U.S. Agency Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities10%30%
Asset-Backed Securities0%20%
Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities0%20%
Investment Grade Corporate Debt Securities20%50%
High Yield Corporate Debt0%20%
Emerging Markets Debt0%15%



The adviser will invest across the credit spectrum to provide the Fund exposure to various credit rating categories. Under normal conditions, at least 70% of the Fund’s net assets must be invested in securities that, at the time of purchase, are rated investment grade by a NRSRO or in securities that are unrated but are deemed by the adviser to be of comparable quality. The balance of the Fund’s assets are not required to meet any minimum quality rating although the Fund will not, under normal conditions, invest more than 30% of its net assets in below investment grade securities (or the unrated equivalent). Such securities may include so called “distressed debt.” Distressed debt includes securities of issuers experiencing financial or operating difficulties, securities where the issuer has defaulted in the payment of interest or principal or in the performance of its covenants or agreements, securities of issuers that may be involved in bankruptcy proceedings, reorganizations or financial restructurings or securities of issuers operating in troubled industries.

Up to 25% of the Fund’s net assets may be invested in foreign securities. Foreign securities include securities issued by foreign governments and their agencies and instrumentalities and companies that are incorporated outside the United States, including securities from issuers in countries whose economies are less developed (emerging markets). Such investments may include below investment grade securities or the unrated equivalent subject to the limitations on below investment grade securities described above. The Fund’s investments may include securities denominated in foreign currencies. Currently, the Fund anticipates at least 85% of the Fund’s net assets will be denominated in U.S. dollars or hedged back to U.S. dollars. However, from time to time, the Fund may have greater exposure to non-U.S. dollar investments to take advantage of market conditions.

The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in mortgage-related and mortgage-backed securities at the adviser’s discretion. Mortgage-related and mortgage-backed securities may be structured as collateralized mortgage obligations (agency and non-agency), stripped mortgage backed securities (interest-only or principal-only), commercial mortgage-backed securities, and mortgage pass-through securities. The Fund expects to invest no more than 25% of its assets in “sub-prime” mortgage-related securities at the time of purchase. The Fund may also enter into “dollar rolls” in which the Fund sells mortgage-backed securities and at the same time contracts to buy back very similar securities on a future date.

In addition to direct investments in securities, derivatives, which are instruments that have a value based on another instrument, exchange rate or index, may be used as substitutes for securities in which the Fund can invest. The Fund may use futures contracts, options, swaps and forward contracts as tools in the management of portfolio assets. The Fund may use derivatives to hedge various investments, for risk management and/or to increase income or gain to the Fund. In addition to the mortgage dollar rolls as described above, the Fund may utilize other relative value strategies involving credit-oriented trades (such as credit default swaps or credit default swap indices), combinations of derivatives, and combinations of derivatives and fixed income securities. The Fund may also utilize foreign currency derivatives such as currency forwards to hedge its non- dollar investments back to the U.S. dollar or use such derivatives to gain or adjust exposure to particular foreign securities, markets or currencies.

Investment Process: The adviser uses both a top down and bottom up research process as well as a combination of fundamental and quantitative inputs to allocate the Fund’s assets among a range of sectors. In buying and selling investments for the Fund, the adviser looks for market sectors and individual securities that it believes will perform well over time. The adviser selects individual securities after performing a risk/reward analysis to address the Fund’s dual objective of seeking total return and preservation of capital. Such analysis includes an evaluation of interest rate risk, credit risk, duration, liquidity, currency risk, legal provisions and the structure of the transaction. Generally, the adviser will sell a security when, based on fundamental credit analysis and the considerations described above, the adviser believes the issuer’s credit quality or the investment’s valuation will materially deteriorate or when the adviser believes that there is better relative value available in the market in other investments. As part of its investment process, the adviser also considers certain environmental, social and governance factors that it believes could have a material negative or positive impact on the risk profiles of certain securities or countries in which the Fund may invest. These determinations may not be conclusive and securities or countries that may be negatively impacted by such factors may be purchased and retained by the Fund while the Fund may divest or not invest in securities of issuers that may be positively impacted by such factors.
As part of its principal investment strategy and for temporary defensive purposes, any portion of the Fund’s total assets may be invested in cash and cash equivalents.



Wednesday, December 9, 2020

New ETF to launch next week

Distillate International Fundamental Stability & Value ETF

Ticker: DSTX
Exchange: NYSE Arca


Expense ratio: 0.55%
CUSIP: 26922B501

Index: Distillate International Fundamental Stability & Value Index
Constituents: 100


Universe: companies screened for cash flow, liquidity, market cap, and low minimum lots.

Methodology: Companies evaluated on:
  • Financial Indebtedness
  • Fundamental Stability
  • Valuation

Prospectus is here.



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Distillate International Fundamental Stability & Value Index

To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a company must meet the following requirements: 

(1) have a minimum of five years of cash flow per share data available,

(2) have sufficient liquidity (e.g., a minimum average daily trading volume of US$20 million over the most recent 30-day period), 

(3) have a minimum market capitalization of US$5 billion, and 

(4) sufficiently low minimum-lot requirements (the “Equity Universe”). 

The Equity Universe is determined annually as of each December 15 and constitutes the Equity Universe for each quarterly reconstitution of the Index until the next December 15. 


The companies in the Equity Universe are then evaluated based on the following three proprietary fundamental measures (collectively, the “FSV Measures”) to identify the companies that will be included in the Index:


Financial Indebtedness
Companies with significant leverage (based on a proprietary debt-to-income calculation) are excluded from the Index.

Fundamental Stability
Each company is scored based on a proprietary measure of the volatility of its historical and projected cash flows as an indicator of fundamental stability. The bottom two-thirds (i.e., the least stable) of the companies in the Equity Universe based on this measure are excluded from the Index.

Valuation
Each company is scored based on a proprietary measure of the company’s free cash flow yield (a measure comparing a company’s normalized free cash flow to its enterprise value). 

The top 100 companies (i.e., the most undervalued) based on such scoring that also meet the Index’s other criteria are included in the Index.  

 

The Index is typically reconstituted quarterly from the companies in the Equity Universe after the close of trading on the 10th business day of each January, April, July, and October, based on FSV Measures as of the 5th business day of that month (the “Data Date”). The Index Provider may adjust the specific timing of reconstitutions to account for holidays and market closures in foreign markets.

At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, a company will not be removed from the Index solely for falling out of the top 100 most undervalued companies as determined by the Index methodology if it remains within the top 130 most undervalued companies. Similarly, a company will not be removed from the Index solely for having a market capitalization less than US$5 billion or average daily trading volume of less than US$20 million if the company’s market capitalization and average daily trading volume are at least 70% of such thresholds (i.e., US$3.5 billion and US$14 million, respectively).

The Index consists of companies in the following geographic regions: 
  • the Americas (North America ex-United States & South America)
  • Europe
  • the Middle East & Africa
  • Japan
  • China/Hong Kong
  • Asia & Australia ex-Japan/China/Hong Kong


The Index excludes U.S. companies (i.e., those with their headquarters in the United States). At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, the Index limits the weighting of each foregoing region to a maximum of 150% of the weight of the total market capitalization of large- and mid-capitalization stocks in such region relative to the total global ex-U.S. market capitalization of large- and mid-capitalization stocks.

The Index Provider determines each country’s eligibility for inclusion in the Index based on factors including the liquidity of the country’s stock markets, accessibility to foreign investors, operational complexity, price transparency, and capital controls, as well as the effect a country’s inclusion in the Index would have on the Index’s investibility and the cost of trying to replicate the Index’s constituents. The Index Provider may include a depositary receipt in lieu of a foreign ordinary share, if such depositary receipt meets the Index eligibility requirements described above. In addition, the Index may include companies organized in emerging market nations or whose shares trade primarily in emerging market nations.

Companies in the real estate development and real estate investment trust industries, as defined by the FactSet Revere Business Industry Classification Systems (“RBICS”), are excluded from the Index.

At the time of each reconstitution of the Index, each Index constituent is initially weighted based on the sum of two-thirds of its equal weighting weight (i.e., 2/3 of 1%) and one-third of its proportion of the Index’s total normalized cash flow, using data as of the Data Date. For example, for an Index constituent with 4% of the total normalized free cash flow of all 100 Index constituents, its weighting would be two-thirds of 1% plus one-third of 4%, which equals 2%. The new weight of each company may be adjusted upward or downward by the Index methodology to minimize the turnover rate of positions that would remain in the Index with weights that would otherwise change by less than 0.25%.

Although the Index methodology seeks to select companies that demonstrate fundamental stability, the value of such companies (and consequently the value of the Index and of the Fund) may still be subject to volatility over short or long periods of time.

As of December 7, 2020, the Index had significant exposure to companies in China/Hong Kong and Europe. The Index’s exposure may change significantly with each reconstitution or based on market movements in between reconstitutions.
















ARK files for new ETF tracking Transparency Index

Name :  ARK Transparency ETF Ticker :   TBD Exchange :   TBD Expense ratio : 0.00% Original filing date : August 31, 2021 Effective date : N...