What do Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) and Netflix (NasdaqGM: NFLX) have in common? Both are triple-digit “story” stocks. Both, in the eyes of some investors at least, are richly valued.
For investors looking to access Chipotle or Netflix via exchange traded funds, the trait the two stocks share in common is few ETFs offer decent exposure to either stock. [The 4 Horsemen Could Weigh on These ETFs]
There is one ETF that has an almost 6% weight to Chipotle, though no exposure to Netflix, and it is the fund’s weight to the burrito king that explains, in part, why it has been a shining a star among discretionary ETFs this year. That ETF is the PowerShares Dynamic Leisure and Entertainment Portfolio (NYSEArca: PEJ).
To be precise, PEJ has a 5.81% weight to Chipolte, but that is far superior to what other ETFs give to the stock and it is enough to make Chipotle PEJ’s largest holding by 56 basis points. More importantly, Chipotle has contributed to an almost 40% year-to-date gain for PEJ. That is impressive by any standard, but even more so when considering the strength in discretionary stocks this year. Being up 40% this year PEJ has outperformed the Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (NYSEArca: VCR) by 400 basis points. [Time to Warm to Discretionary ETFs]
Chipotle is not the only high-flying restaurant-related name that has been driving PEJ higher this year. Starbucks (NasdaqGM: SBUX), Buffalo Wild Wings (NasdaqGM: BWLD) and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (NYSE: KKD) combine for 11.5% of the ETF’s weight. Starbucks is the “laggard” of that trio because it has not more than doubled this year as Buffalo Wild Wings and Krispy Kreme have.