ETF Spotlight: First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology (FBT)
March 10th at 3:00pm by Tom Lydon
ETF Spotlight on First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology (NYSEArca: FBT), part of a weekly series.
Assets: $77 million
Objective: Tracks the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index, which is an equal-weighted index designed to measure the performance of companies in the biotech industry.
Holdings: Tom holdings include Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB), Celera (NASDAQ: CRA), Cephalon (NASDAQ: CEPH) and Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI)
What You Should Know
- Companies in the fund are involved in things like recombinant DNA technology, molecular biology, genetic engineering and genomics
- The index is rebalanced quarterly
- The expense ratio is 0.60%
- FBT is up 32.8% in the last six months, making it the top-performing biotech fund
The Latest News
- Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is going to buy Facet Biotech Corp. (NASDAQ: FACT) for $450 million. Abbott’s bid bested a failed bid from Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB). The move would add immunology and oncology to Abbott’s repertoire. These deals signal more than just the health of aspects of the biotech sector; it’s a sign of renewed confidence in the economic recovery. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more deals in this and other sectors take place in the coming months.
- Biotech companies, investors, providers and big pharmaceutical giants are bullish on personalized medicine and have readily entered the field, writes Rebecca Vesely for Modern Healthcare.
- According to the recently released MoneyTree report based on data from Thomson Reuters, biotech investments only dropped 19% in 2009, but the sector was still the largest investment sector for the year with $3.5 billion going into 406 deals.
- Picking the best companies out of many is a challenge in any sector, but it’s especially true of biotech. Many of the 160-or-so biotech companies are still awaiting profits while others are just upstarts with scant funding.
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