A technology and e-commerce-focused fund, the Kevin O’Leary-sponsored Global Internet Giants ETF (OGIG) debuted in the markets in June 2018 and has been offering investors access to a wide variety of both domestic and international stocks.
Started by celebrity and business mogul Kevin O’Leary, the goal of the fund according to O’Leary is sustainable growth, not flash in the pan gains. The fund manager also doesn’t want to be levered excessively towards any one name. In a Forbes interview, O’Leary mentioned that after the chaos following the 2008 financial meltdown, risking too heavily in one company, especially a tech firm, could spell trouble.
To this end, the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF (OGIG) features several top performers with strong financials, such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Facebook, Inc. (FB), and Alphabet Inc (GOOGL).
The Global Internet Giants index portfolio consists of 67 holdings. Information Technology takes up about 75.39% of the index, while Consumer Discretionary comprises the rest. Regarding geographical exposure and country allocation, the United States leads the index at 54.79%, with China (31.35%) and the United Kingdom (5.20%) following. The remaining countries (Japan, Canada, Germany, and Argentina) all hold below 3% weight in the fund’s overall composition.
According to O’Shares, OGIG is a “rules-based ETF designed to provide investors with the means to invest in some of the largest global companies that derive most of their revenue from the Internet and e-commerce sectors that exhibit quality and growth potential.” OGIG focuses on companies that exhibit revenue growth of 20- to 35- percent, “the majority of which you’ve never heard of,” O’Leary said, yet they are “blowing it away on the top line.”
In addition to solid domestic companies, one of the biggest boons for the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF is, as its name suggests, global exposure. As O’Leary explains, “I would have never built this if it already existed. There isn’t a single index I can find that’s global in this space.”
The Internet Giants ETF has 52 holdings. A cluster of them are Chinese tech companies, including YY Inc (ADR) (YY), Baidu Inc (ADR) (BIDU), 58.com Inc (ADR) (WUBA), and JD.Com Inc (ADR) (JD).
With the current economic environment, investors seeking an ETF with both domestic and international exposure could find OGIG a wise play.