For as good as U.S. equities have been this year, and they have been quite good broadly speaking, finding an abundance of ETFs that are up 30% or more year-to-date is difficult.
The job is made even harder when excluding ETFs that track Japan, one developed market that has outperformed the U.S. despite Thursday’s massive sell-off. [Japan ETFs Tumble]
With enough diligence and homework, finding a few compelling options in the 30%+ club is possible.
Fortunately, the reasons behind these stellar gains are not hard to put into words and may provide insight for what these funds have in store for the rest of 2013. Include among the following ETFs are some familiar names, small funds and at least one that has recently been growing at an impressive clip.
First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund (NasdaqGM: QCLN)
This is how strong QCLN has been this year: Even with Wednesday’s 3.3% dip, the ETF is still up 39.61% year-to-date.
Clean energy fans can debate the reasons why QCLN has been a shining star this. Solar stocks have chipped in on the ETF’ surge, but when evaluating QCLN’s holdings, one thing jumps out at investors: A 15.2% weight to Tesla (NasdaqGS: TSLA).
QCLN is “the Tesla ETF” and that is a good moniker to have these days. [Tesla Surge Buoys Inflows to Green Energy ETF]
Market Vectors Biotech ETF (NYSEArca: BBH)