Today we revisit a fund that we initially covered more than a year ago in March of 2014, ROBO (Robo-Stox Global Robotics and Automation, Expense Ratio 0.95%).
Having debuted in October of 2013, we originally commented in reference to the fund’s growth at the time “the growing interest in the space is clearly demonstrated through the quick growth of this ETF, which only a few months ago many would have considered either “too small” or “too thinly traded” to utilize in institutional size.”
Since then, not a ton has changed in terms of this ETF’s size in AUM terms, as we see about $118 million invested in the fund currently, as compared to the $99 million we pointed out in our initial column in 2014.
Trading volume in the product can be hit or miss like most niche ETFs, as we see an average daily total of about 28,000 shares exchanging hands. ROBO sold off rather sharply in late June and throughout early July, evidenced in the chart below, along with the global equity swoon, but has since recovered somewhat and is currently bumping up against its 200 day MA overhead which has
presented some resistance.
Trading volume in the product relative to norms has been light for at least two weeks now. As we had mentioned previously, ROBO was first to market and unique in the sense in that it hones in on the “Robotics and Automation” segment within the greater “Technology” category, and thus investors whom are looking for specific exposure to this niche area.
From a portfolio standpoint, there is a clear global focus here as the fund’s title suggests, and we see the lion’s share of the single stock weightings being companies that are domiciled in the United States (36%), but followed by Japan (26%), Europe (16%), as well as Developed Asia (7%), and even a small weighting to the Middle East (3%).