Impact investment firm Inspire Investing has expanded its suite of biblically responsible ETFs with a new multi-factor US equity fund.
Inspire Investing has added a US multi-factor fund to its suite of faith-based ETFs.
The Inspire Fidelis Multi-Factor ETF (FDLS US) has been listed on NYSE Arca with an expense ratio of 0.85%.
The fund has come to market with $40 million in initial assets.
Designed to serve as a core equity holding in faith-based portfolios, the ETF comprises 100 high-quality, biblically aligned US companies with growth, value, and price momentum characteristics.
The ETF is linked to the Fidelis Multi-Cap Multi-Factor Index which was developed in partnership with Wallick Investments, a South Carolina-based investment advisor known for combining systematic approaches with strategic moral investing.
The index’s initial universe comprises US-listed equities, including American Depository Receipts, of companies with market capitalizations greater than $250 million.
The index utilizes Inspire Investing’s proprietary Impact Score methodology to screen for companies with high biblically responsible standards. The process seeks out firms doing amazing things like working to cure cancer, providing clean water solutions, and otherwise being a blessing to their communities, customers, workforce, and the world. At the same time, the process also seeks to avoid companies involved in activities like abortion, pornography, and human trafficking.
The next step in the index’s construction involves harnessing Wallick Investments’ proprietary factor-based scoring methodology that ranks companies based on an equally weighted combination of quality, value, and momentum characteristics.
The index includes 100 stocks with the highest multi-factor scores while selecting at least 40 large-cap companies as well as a minimum number of firms from the following economic sectors: materials (minimum of four stocks), business services (four), technology and communication services (27), consumer discretionary (six), consumer staples (four), energy (eight), finance (16), medical (12), industrials (11), retail (five), and utilities (three).
Each of the 100 chosen constituents is assigned an equal weight of 1%, and the index is rebalanced on a quarterly basis.
Commenting on the launch, Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing, said: “By the grace of God, even in this tumultuous market, we have continued to see an increase in demand for faith-based investments. Today, we are excited to expand our product menu again and bring the Fidelis strategy from Wallick Investments to the masses through an ETF. This launch provides a new option for investors and advisors looking to incorporate factor investing into their biblically aligned portfolios.”