ETFs Archives - Page 7 of 14 - INO.com Trader's Blog

How To Invest Alongside "Shark Tanks" Kevin O'Leary

Posted on October 19, 2015October 21, 2015 by Matt Thalman

Up until just a few years ago the name Kevin O'Leary didn't mean much to most investors. But, with O'Leary starring on the hit TV show "Shark Tank", now most investors, as well as the general public at least, recognize the name. Furthermore, if you often watch Shark Tank you likely have a good idea of how "Mr. Wonderful", O'Leary's nickname on Shark Tank, likes to invest.

Mr. O'Leary often asks for a royalty deal, a few dollars every time an item is sold when giving entrepreneurs money. While some of the other investors on the show often criticize O'Leary for building in the royalty deal, claiming he is taking advantage of people, the idea behind the royalty is so that O'Leary can get his initial investment back in a reasonable amount of time. Furthermore, it acts as a safety net for O'Leary if the company he invests in is a massive winner at first but, doesn’t have the longevity to grow and become a long-term successful organization.

While the sarcastic nickname O'Leary has received on the show may not make him the best partner for an entrepreneur, it shows that he not only is a wise investor but someone that limits their risk as much as possible. For some investors, this sounds like the kind of guy they would love to be able to invest with. I mean honestly, who hasn’t watched Shark Tank and thought to themselves how cool it would be if they could partner with one of the investors on the show?

Well, you know can! Continue reading "How To Invest Alongside "Shark Tanks" Kevin O'Leary" →

4 Companies You Can Own That Operate Your Favorite ETFs

Posted on September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 by Matt Thalman

SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), Schwab U.S Broad Market ETF (SCHB), State Street Corporation (STT), Invesco (IVZ), Wisdom Tree (WETF), BlackRock (BLK), ETF investing, ETF's, benefits of etfs,

But first, maybe you are wondering what an ETF operator does and how do they make money?

Plan and simply an ETF operator sponsors and runs an exchange traded fund. ETF's are either managed or unmanaged. Managed would mean someone is actually deciding which investments to hold in the ETF in order to gain the highest return. Unmanaged ETF's are ones that simply track a corresponding index; such is the case with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) which tracks S&P 500.

An ETF operator makes its money by charging a fee to manage the ETF. These fees are usually displayed as a percentage. These fees or the annual expense ratio, as it is often called, can range in amounts from as little as 0.04% which is the case with the Schwab U.S Broad Market ETF (SCHB), up to more than 3% with some of the exotic funds. Managed funds always carry a higher expense ratio as they require daily monitoring by the managers. Whereas with unmanaged funds a manager only has to make changes when the index the fund tracks changes, which is not usually very often. Think of it this way, managed means constant attention baby-sitting while unmanaged means no to little baby-sitting and the more baby-sitting, the higher the price.

So now that we know how they operate and were the revenue comes from let's take a look at a few ETF operators. Continue reading "4 Companies You Can Own That Operate Your Favorite ETFs" →

3 ETF's That Focus on Share Buybacks

Posted on July 31, 2015August 6, 2015 by Matt Thalman

Some investors love large dividends. Some like to see strong revenue growth quarter over quarter. Others look for management teams they believe in. There are a hundred different metrics or indicators investors look for in a company or throughout the economy that makes them believe one stock will before better than another.

One that I haven't mentioned, but is very important to some investors, is share buybacks. While this form of returning capital to shareholders, the other being dividends, is questioned by many as whether it is the best use of company capital, in a lot of cases it’s a better use of capital than letting it just sit in the bank or even worse wasting it on risky acquisitions.

Regardless though of your stance on share buybacks, the fact remains they are a huge part of investing. They affect per share earnings, a company's ability to offer a higher dividend, and while, in most cases very small, they give investors a larger piece of the pie. Continue reading "3 ETF's That Focus on Share Buybacks" →

Are You Really As Diversified As You Think?

Posted on July 23, 2015July 23, 2015 by Matt Thalman

A while back I pointed out that due to Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization, a large number of ETF's were massively over-weight the technology giant. In some cases, Apple represented more than 5%, 7% or even 10% of the total value of the ETF based on how many holdings the fund actually owns.

I recently came across an ETF that is not only overweight Apple by a massive amount, with maker of the iPhone representing more than 13%, but its top 5 companies (6 holdings since Google (GOOG)(GOOGL) has two stock classes) represent more than 37% of the fund, of which might I add has over 100 holdings. Furthermore though, what makes this so interesting is that the ETF I am talking about tracks a major index, which simply adds to the myth that the fund is helping investors diversify and is a safer way to invest. Continue reading "Are You Really As Diversified As You Think?" →

A Newly Issued Pure Biotech ETF Worth Considering

Posted on July 22, 2015July 21, 2015 by Noah Kiedrowski

Introduction

The biotechnology sector has witnessed unprecedented growth that has left all major indices far behind in both annual and cumulative performance over the past decade and more notably 5 years. Using the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) and SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI) as proxies, these ETFs have posted annual returns of greater than 30% over the past 5 years while more than quadrupling returns on a cumulative basis over the past decade. It is noteworthy to point out that both IBB and XBI have risen to all-time highs recently while IBB broke the $400 per share barrier as well.

A novel way to play the biotechnology cohort has entered into the ETF universe via BioShares™ Biotechnology Products (BBP) ETF. BBP offers a pure biotech play with no holdings in the generic, specialty pharma, life science tools, medical device, diagnostic or other healthcare companies. Thus this ETF focuses solely on the biotechnology cohort with at least one FDA approved product in its portfolio. Continue reading "A Newly Issued Pure Biotech ETF Worth Considering" →

Tag: ETFs