Investors interested in focusing on the quality factor have a number of smart beta options to choose from, such as the Oppenheimer Russell 1000 Quality Factor ETF (Cboe: OQAL), which targets companies in the Russell 1000 Index that exhibit greater quality characteristics such as return on assets, accruals and leverage relative to the broader U.S. equity market.
As the smart beta space grows and more investors funneled money into targeted strategies, traditional money managers and fund providers are also eyeing the space for its potential growth opportunity.
“It’s a big trend in the industry of active asset managers getting into the ETF business, and two good examples of that are Oppenheimer as Ralph mentioned on the factor side and then Franklin Templeton coming in with a suite of single-country indices,” Ken O’Keefe, Managing Director of Global ETFs for FTSE Russell, said at the conference.
For example, Franklin Templeton recently launched the suite of country-specific ETFs, including options like the Franklin FTSE Japan ETF (NYSEArca: FLJP) and Franklin FTSE Europe ETF (NYSEArca: FLEE), among others. Each of the country-specific ETFs track FTSE Russell-based indices and most come with a dirt-cheap 0.09% expense ratio.
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