Since the beginning of this month traditionally marks back-to-school time for many, I thought the timing was appropriate for this article on basic investor education with a focus on ETFs and similarly traded instruments. The following seven actions reflect practices, many quite common, I’ve seen executed often that I consider major mistakes. In fact, I strongly … Read more
By Herb Blank Research Affiliates and Dimensional Fund Advisors have been among the esteemed research and investment firms proclaiming that equally weighted portfolios will deliver superior performance to portfolios weighted by market capitalization also known as cap-weighted. This article explores to what extent that has been true in recent years. IVV is the iShares S&P … Read more
Two other analysts whose blogs I monitor wrote in their midyear reports that they were bullish on bank and financial ETFs. My analysis using ValuEngine data below differs significantly. One analyst singled out KRE and the other’s favorite was FTXO. They cited that the P/B and P/E ratios were considerably lower than the market averages. … Read more
For each blog article, I scan through relevant groups of ETFs that relate to possible investment strategies. Three ETFs from iShares by BlackRock stood out to me this week: IEO, IEZ, IYE. All have ValuEngine’s strongest rating of 5 checks and all have fared very well in price performance during the past 6 months since … Read more
The events of the past twelve months focused a lot of attention on amazing and life-altering developments made possible by the global biotech industry. Although the major names we heard were Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, only the last was where the original research and patents that produced the CoVid-19 vaccines were developed. … Read more
Lately, ValuEngine has seen ticker GVIP (Goldman Sachs Hedge Industry VIP ETF) on several ETF strategists’ buy lists. The fund’s strategy is intended to take advantage of the highest conviction holdings of “VIP Hedge Fund Managers.” Specifically, GVIP seeks to track the GS Hedge Fund VIP Index, which is constructed in accordance with a rules-based … Read more
By Herb Blank If you are an investor with less than $1 billion to invest and a holding horizon of more than 3 months, do NOT buy SPY to access exposure to the S&P 500. This is true even though SPY has the most assets under management and the highest average trading volume by far. The simple … Read more
ValuEngine is asked many times every day what our outlook for the market is for the next few months. We always answer with uncertainty, as that is the nature of the markets these days. We are “generally positive” about the markets and recovery once we put Covid in the rear view mirror. But we are … Read more
By Herbert Blank Dividend ETFs have seen major inflows in recent years. At a time when most fixed income ETFs have historically low yields, that interest is easy to understand. There are more than 100 US-listed ETFs categorized by Morningstar, ETF.com, ETF Stream and others as Dividend ETFs. Many of these use very different methodologies to satisfy … Read more
By Herbert Blank There are more than 100 US-listed ETFs categorized by Morningstar and others under ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). All have an element of attempting to align investments with personally held social values. Under the hood, there are huge differences between many and subtle huge differences between others. Its a big subject, to … Read more