Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Profit Off Health and Wellness With This Fund

The Global X Health & Wellness Thematic ETF (NASDAQ:BFIT) seeks to harness the effects of changing consumer lifestyles by investing in companies geared toward promoting physical activity and well-being.

The fund aims to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Health & Wellness Thematic Index. BFIT enables investors to access high-growth potential through companies at the leading edge of a long-term, health and wellness trend affecting multiple sectors of the global economy.

Composition of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) transcends classic sector, industry and geographic classifications by tracking an emerging theme. In a single trade, BFIT delivers access to dozens of companies with high exposure to the health and wellness sector.

Only 41% of the fund’s portfolio is invested in U.S. companies. BFIT’s other holdings are in foreign emerging markets.

This strategy reflects that many industry powerhouses are based elsewhere. For example, Puma SE and Adidas AG are headquartered in Germany; Shimano and Asics Corp. are in Japan and Fila Holdings Corp. is in South Korea. This exchange-traded fund provides diversification domestically and across the globe. Better yet, no individual stock represents more than 4% of the portfolio.

The fund has $19.6 million in assets under management, a 0.35% average spread and 58 holdings. BFIT currently trades around $23 and has a 0.55% dividend yield. The fund has been growing steadily since its inception in May 2016. It is up more than 50% since then, and with an increasing interest in healthy living and general wellness, the fund looks poised to continue growing higher.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

The health and wellness ETF tracks an index of equities from companies that promote physical well-being. Its universe of holdings includes small-, mid- and large-cap public companies from developed countries that earn the majority of their revenue from the market niche or whose stated business objective relates to good physical health.

Health and wellness crosses the sector boundaries found in traditional classification systems to include nutrition and weight loss, nutritional supplements, fitness equipment and apparel, among others. BFIT has a high expense ratio (0.75%) in comparison to other exchange-traded funds and, as a health and wellness fund, has a very different investment strategy than others in this segment.

I urge interested investors to exercise their own due diligence in deciding whether this fund fits personal portfolio goals and risk tolerance.

As always, I am happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to send me an email. You just may see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.

Jim Woods

Jim Woods is a 20-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor. Jim is the editor of Intelligence Report, Investing Edge, the Bullseye Stock Trader, and The Deep Woods (formerly the Weekly ETF Report). His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others. Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology. The independent firm TipRanks rates Jim the No. 3 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 6,000). TipRanks calculates that, since 2012, he's made 361 successful recommendations out of 499 total, earning a success rate of 72% and a +15.3% average return per recommendation. He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding. Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.