Lattice Strategies, the San Francisco-based money manager with an emphasis on risk-focused research and investment strategy design, launched its fourth exchange traded fund today, about a month after debuting its first three funds.
The newest ETF from California-based Lattice is the Lattice Global Small Cap Strategy ETF (NYSEArca: ROGS). ROGS tracks the Lattice Risk-Optimized Global Small Cap Strategy Index, which was designed with the idea “of improving return potential in small-cap investing and seeks to capture potential benefits of correlation and valuation differences across small companies in the US, developed and emerging markets,” according to a statement issued by Lattice.
While traditional small-cap benchmarks such as the Russell 2000 and the S&P SmallCap 600, have turned in solid performances this year, ROGS looks to capitalize on an important theme: Missed opportunity in the small-cap space. As Lattice notes, “more than two-thirds of small cap companies are domiciled outside of the United States, representing a potential missed opportunity for investors.”
Home to 455 companies, the Lattice Risk-Optimized Global Small Cap Strategy Index sports favorable valuation and volatility traits relative to familiar U.S.-focused small-cap benchmarks. The Lattice index had a P/E ratio of 13.45 and a standard deviation of 11.3% as of March 12, according to Lattice data.