IYW is up 12% this year, indicating it has benefited from Apple’s resurgence, but Apple has not been the only drive of IYW’s impressive performance. The ETF has gotten a lift from the durability of old school tech stocks that have stood tall even as their younger, growth-ier counterparts scuffled earlier this year.
IYW allocates over 27% of its combined weight to Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT), Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC), Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Qualcomm (NasdaqGS: QCOM) and Cisco (NasdaqGS: CSCO). IYW yields almost 1.1%. [Microsoft Helping a Slew of ETFs]
Fixed income allocations within the Forlines strategy include the PowerShares Build America Bond Portfolio (NYSEArca: BAB) and the iShares U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (NYSEArca: PFF). BAB is rated marketweight by S&P Capital IQ.
“The allocation to cash was recently at 2% of assets, but was higher earlier in the beginning of 2014 and was as high as 30% in early 2012,” according to the research firm.
iShares U.S. Technology ETF
Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of SPY, QQQ, Apple, Microsoft and Cisco.