Shares of fast food chain Jack in the Box (NasdaqGS: JACK) are up 1.3% and earlier touched an all-time high, extending a run that has seen California-based company climb 12.1% in just the past week.
Even with a one-year gain of almost 66%, Jack in the Box only recently graduated to mid-cap classification from small-cap territory. Said differently, Jack in the Box’s current make value of about $3.7 billion means the stock is not a prominent member of many exchange traded funds. Perhaps that means an intrepid ETF issuer should use this writer’s idea (and compensate him) and finally introduce a dedicated restaurant ETF.
Alas, that is a story for another day. The story today is if investors want to access Jack in the Box via ETFs, the PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage Portfolio (NYSEArca: PBJ) is the way to go. Just five ETFs feature JACK as a top 10 holding, according to S&P Capital IQ data. The research firm rates PBJ, which has $250.4 million in assets under management, marketweight. [A Sinfully Solid Staples ETF]
PBJ’s name appears to imply it is a different spin on the ordinary consumer staples ETF. That may be true to an extent, but it is not a pure staples ETF. Not with a 12.4% weight to consumer discretionary stocks, including JACK. The stock is 3.47% of PBJ’s weight, making it the ETF’s ninth-largest holding.
PBJ’s weight to JACK has paid dividends for the ETF’s investors. Not only has JACK crushed larger rivals McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) in terms of total returns over the past year, but JACK has also delivered nearly triple the returns of Chipotle (NYSE: CMG), perhaps the most beloved restaurant growth stock.