With Dow Jones Industrials component MCD (it carries a 5.09% weighting in the index and related ETF DIA (SPDR Dow Jones Industrials Average, Expense Ratio 0.16%) off considerably since the end of November, and on extremely heavy volume in a short period of time, this presents an opportunity to look at Restaurant names on the whole.
While there is no specific “Restaurant” ETF listed in the U.S. marketplace at the moment despite periodic talk of the investment appetite for such a product that surfaces, we find PEJ (PowerShares Dynamic Leisure & Entertainment Portfolio, Expense Ratio 0.60%) to be a decent barometer in the space.
PEJ has exposure to Restaurants such as SBUX, SONC, PZZA, DPZ, DENN, CAKE, CBRL, WEN, DNKN, BWLD, FRGI, RRGB and JACK for instance currently (SBUX is actually the number eight component weighting in PEJ at 4.73%), and fourteen of the ETF’s thirty holdings are actually restaurant stocks at the moment.
The securities in the underlying index are subject to some turnover as the underlying index the Dynamic Leisure & Entertainment Intellidex is re-balanced and reconstituted on a quarterly basis (most recently in November). For not only Restaurants are represented in PEJ, but other sub-sectors within the greater Consumer Discretionary category where this fund lies, including Casinos and Gaming companies (WYNN, LVS), Hotels (HOT),Media (TWX, DIS) and even Cruise Lines (RCL) and Amusement Parks (FUN).
Like other Intellidex funds from PowerShares, the fund selects securities for investment from the universe of Entertainment & Leisure names on the basis of fundamental metrics such as “price momentum, earnings momentum, quality, management action, and value” according to fund literature.