There was a time when Elon Musk, he of Tesla (NasdaqGM: TSLA) and SolarCity (NasdaqGM: SCTY) fame, could do no wrong.
In the eyes of some, Musk was seen as the second coming of the late Steve Jobs because of his involvement in companies behind two of this year’s best-performing. Tesla and SolarCity are still two of 2013’s highest fliers and in a testament to just how strong those stocks have been, they still rank among the year’s best even with November charts that look like this:
Tesla’s tumble in particular could have proven to be onerous for some ETFs, namely the Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSEArca: GEX) and the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund (NasdaqGS: QCLN). On October 4, GEX and QCLN were up 64.6% and 69.3%, respectively, for the year. [Tesla Fire Could Burn These ETFs]
Confirming that, yes, ETFs are in a fact useful to gain access to hot stocks, particularly for investors looking to avoid savage losses, are these statistics. In late May Tesla was 17% of QCLN’s weight. GEX had combined weight of nearly 13% to Tesla and SolarCity. [Musk’s Ascent Jolts These Small ETFs]
As of Monday’s close QCLN had a 5% allocation to Tesla and a 5.8% weight to SolarCity. As of Tuesday’s close, the two stocks combined for just 9% of GEX’s weight.
It is simple math: Falling allocations to Tesla have buffered GEX and QCLN against nasty November declines. As for the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEArca: TAN) and the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca: KWT), this year’ two best non-leveraged ETFs, each has SolarCity exposiure, but both have traded higher this month. [Seduced by Solar ETFs]
