The index’s topping of its rivals in not a new phenomenon. As the report by David Krein, Managing Director of Global Information Services of NASDAQ OMX, notes, the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index has come out on top over the past three- and five-year time horizons. Said another way, the index and QCLN have performing well since long before SolarCity and Tesla went public.
Tracking error for QCLN relative to its underlying index has been tolerable over lengthy time horizons. QCLN has lagged the index by just three basis points over the three years ending Dec. 31, 2013 and 26 basis points over that five-year period.
Chart Courtesy: NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes
QCLN, which has almost $120 million in assets under management, is up nearly 6% to start 2014. Other top-10 holdings in the ETF include Cree (NasdaqGM: CREE) and First Solar (NasdaqGM: FSLR).