SPEAR Invest, a newly formed asset manager focusing on industrials and industrial technology, has debuted its first ETF.
The SPEAR Alpha ETF (SPRX US) has been listed on Nasdaq and comes with an expense ratio of 0.75%.
The actively managed fund targets disruptive, growth-oriented companies, selecting the most high-conviction stocks from several industrial technology sub-themes including environmental impact, manufacturing digitalization, robotics & automation, photonics, additive manufacturing, space exploration, and artificial intelligence.
US-listed stocks including American Depository Receipts are eligible for selection, and the ETF will typically favour large-cap companies with market capitalizations in excess of $10 billion.
SPEAR first utilizes top-down analysis, leveraging both internal and external research, to screen for companies that are significant beneficiaries of the sub-themes. The fund may invest in breakthrough companies at any stage of the supply chain from the mining and processing of raw materials, to the manufacturing of component parts, to companies that produce, use, or benefit from finished products.
Once a company is identified as relevant to a sub-theme, SPEAR conducts bottom-up research including an assessment of the company’s competitive positioning, financial performance, ESG profile, and management team quality to select just two or three stocks from each sub-theme. The fund’s portfolio is expected to consist of approximately 25 high-conviction holdings.
Individual positions may be resized or exited based on a re-appraisal of company valuation or changes in structural industry factors such as increased competition or new disruptive technologies.
Ivana Delevska, Founder of SPEAR Invest, commented: “SPRX provides comprehensive and cost-efficient exposure to established long-term secular themes as well as emerging ones. It is based on a strategy built on primary research in a sector that could have significant and underappreciated tailwinds over the next five years. As an actively managed fund, it is important to highlight that although SPRX invests in innovative industrial technologies, we believe the real value comes from finding under-the-radar opportunities across the supply chain.”