This etf has performed much better than FDN over ytd, 1 yr, 2 yrs, 3 yrs and 5 yrs (45.4/21.6%, 53.8/28.8%, 55.7/35.9%, 84.8,61.3%). I thought the composition of this etf will be of interest here:
Interesting Alpha - I can see why this outperforms with access to the China Internet players rather than just domestic US.
Since I own the China individual players associated with the out performance (see my monthly write ups), FDN actually gives me exposure to the big US names I don’t own so to me I prefer FDN as it doesn’t double up my exposure and risk.
If I didn’t own CTRIP, Ali Baba etc then I would be interested in this although Bitcoin is something I am not interested in. Others on this board still might not like China stocks and would again only be interested in FDN for different reasons to me.
I used to own FDN but finally decided that I would prefer the rifle to the shotgun. I found no answer to the question ‘why I would cover the field instead of choosing the companies which the screens and DD produced?’. There seemed a lot of questionable valuation and quality in there.
However, to go off at a tangent, I wonder if an ETF like these might be a valuable addition or replacement benchmark for Saul. Apart from LGIH, AMZN, KITE, Saul’s concentration is very much in Saas. The point is that Saul and others here do a great deal of work. How would a punter have fared over the period had he been lazy instead?
I always think Saul’s comparators are completely valid but totally uninteresting, comparing a highly specialised MO to broad indexes (the rifle is compared to the scattergun but their use is quite different).
What about a benchmark made up of two or three proportionate % ETFs instead? Simples. (eg LGIH could be taken care of by a 10% housebuilder ETF.) That easily constructed benchmark, easily changed according to allocation, would be much more interesting than what diversified shotgun investors compare themselves to.
I think I know the answer: Saul’s rifle is exceptionally accurate and such a benchmark would show the value of work over idleness, not always but over time…