The transportation sector and related exchange traded fund is on the move Tuesday as shipping giant FedEx (NYSE: FDX) surged on speculation that hedge funder Bill Ackman is taking an interest.
The iShares Transportation Average ETF (NYSEArca: IYT) was up about 4% Tuesday as Fedex, which makes up 7.6% of the overall portfolio, surged 7%. IYT is up 19.3% year-to-date. [FedEx Slams Transportation ETF After All-Time High]
On a client note Monday, Ackman asked to raise $1 billion to two new funds by the end of next week to invest in major U.S. stocks, Reuters reports.
“The increasing volume in shares and options is being attributed to talk that activist investor Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square might be taking a stake in FedEx,” WhatsTrading.com options strategist Frederic Ruffy said in the article.
The market speculated that Ackman would focus on Fedex as the hedge funder stated that he was looking at a large-cap company engaged in a simple and predictable business with higher barriers to entry.
“Many transportation firms have developed high barriers to entry through major capital investments and networks that are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate,” writes Morningstar analyst Robert Goldsborough in a research note on IYT. “Almost 69% of IYT’s assets are invested in companies with economic moats, which our equity analysts define as possessing sustainable competitive advantages.”