It’s hard not to notice the impressive growth of what may have launched as a niche ETF, but has quickly gathered assets, ROBO (Robo-Stox Global Robotics and Automation Index, Expense Ratio 0.95%).
The fund debuted in late October of last year, but it currently has $99 million in AUM and averages a growing 74,000 shares traded daily as it is trading at its highest levels since late January prior to a market sell-off.
The fund provides exposure to seventy-eighty companies that are “robotics-related and/or automation-related” in terms of their lines of industry, and top holdings are currently: Keyence Corp. (2.58%), ISRG (2.52%), CGNX (2.49%), AVAV (2.44%), and Fanuc Corp (2.41%), hardly household names perhaps with the exception of ISRG.
There is heavy international exposure here, as the fund has a 58% slice dedicated to internationally based companies with the remainder of the fund residing in the U.S. The fund leans mostly towards Mid-Cap equities, with about 45% of its exposure there with the remaining exposure spanning Mega/Large Caps, Smalls, and even Microcap names.
Classified broadly under “Technology” equities but in a first in class niche in terms of its exposure to Robotics and Automation, the fund has quickly made a name for itself and it certainly seems like hit has hit the “timeliness” factor squarely on the head as we see a steady flow of headlines and innovations in the marketplace regarding robotics these days.
Just yesterday we saw headlines about FB for instance purchasing drones to “fulfill its mission to wire the parts of the world that still aren’t connected to the Internet” according to an article on TechCrunch, and most have followed the passing AMZN headlines for the past several months about their interest in using unmanned drones for home delivery.