Date Launched: Oct 2, 2009
Links: Website, Prospectus, White Paper
Investment Strategy:
(RPQ: 26.59 0.00%) is the first of a group of Grail Active ETFs and it tries to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing at least 80% of its net assets in companies that develop, produce or distribute technology-related products and services. The fund’s sub-advisors, RiverPark, will invest in companies that derive value from embracing technological innovation – which may not be limited to the technology sector. RiverPark uses a fundamental approach to find technology-oriented companies at attractive valuations and intends to invest primarily in mid-large cap companies (ie. $2-$150billion market cap). The fund is also allowed to be in 100% cash for defensive measures. The fund is benchmarked to the Nasdaq Composite.
Portfolio Managers:
RiverPark, the sub-advisors for RPQ, provide day-to-day portfolio management services for the fund. RPQ is managed by the following:
Conrad van Tienhoven, Portfolio Manager – Mitchell Rubin is a principal of RiverPark and has been managing the fund since inception. He has prior experience in managing funds for Baron Funds.
The Numbers:
Expense Ratio – Capped at 0.89% till Aug 31, 2010 (by contractual agreement)
Average Bid-Ask Ratio – n/a
Average Volume – 1,565 shares
What’s special about it?
1. Despite being a “technology” fund, RiverPark invests in companies from all industries as long as they are technology-oriented.
2. The sub-advisors are given a relatively open leash and are allowed to buy companies of any market capitalization, in any industry and can also buy ADRs of foreign companies, listed in the US.
Analysis:
Positives –
- Just like the managers of other RiverPark ETFs, RPQ’s portfolio manager, Conrad, brings with him the experience of managing funds previously at Baron Funds.
Negatives –
- Having been in the market for 4 months now, RPQ has attracted hardly any investor interest. Being one of the pioneers in the Active ETF space, alongside PowerShares, has not helped them at all and as a result RPQ still only has a market capitalization of $2.58 million. And the lack of liquidity discourages investors even more, with hardly any volume to support trading activity.
Performance to date vs Nasdaq Composite:
Disclosure: No positions in above-mentioned names
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