Tag Archives: zacks funds

4 Solid ETF Deals For China Singles Day

‘Singles Day’ in China has gained immense popularity in recent years, with e-commerce players making quick bucks on the back of heavy discounts and promotions to lure solitary souls. Also known as anti-Valentine’s Day, the date 11.11 depicts those who are single. The young Chinese binge on this popular occasion making it the world’s busiest online shopping day. In fact, Singles Day is now much bigger than Cyber Monday and Black Friday, with 80% more online sales in 2014. This year too, Singles Day is set to be bigger than ever, surpassing stellar sales records of last year, as per KPMG . Clothing and accessories, cosmetics and personal care, household products, home electrical appliances as well as food and beverages are the most popular categories that generally enjoy higher sales in this online shopping festival. Singles Day: A Revenue Booster Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA ) turned into the biggest 24-hour cyber spending blitz worldwide six years ago. Alibaba hit a record $9.3 billion in sales last year versus $5.8 billion in 2013 and $3.1 billion in 2012. One analyst, SunTrust, expects Alibaba’s sales to reach $12 billion this year. This year, the company has 50% more participating vendors from around the world and 30,000 brands offering more than six million products through its various online shopping platforms, including Tmall, Taobao Marketplace, group-buying site Juhuasan and the AliExpress global retail site. JD.com (NASDAQ: JD ) is bolstering its sales and promotion on the day to give stiff competition to Alibaba. It is expecting sales to double from the last year. Other e-commerce firms like Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU ), Jumei International (NYSE: JMEI ) and Vipshop Holdings (NYSE: VIPS ) will also offer huge discounts and expect a high sales volume on the day. Courier services are also expected to rise with the surge in e-commerce business. So logistics giants such as SF Express, STO, and YTO should also be on the list of gainers. How to Play E-commerce players have a tradition of enjoying a huge rally on the Singles Day shopping fervor. Investors seeking to tap “Single Day” benefits in a diversified way should focus on the following four ETFs that provide substantial exposure to the Chinese e-commerce or retail segment. KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (NASDAQ: KWEB ) This product provides concentrated exposure to the Chinese Internet market by tracking the CSI China Overseas Internet Index. In total, the fund holds 58 securities in its basket with heavy concentration on the top four firms – Tencent Holdings ( OTCPK:TCEHY ), Ctrip.com (NASDAQ: CTRP ), Alibaba and BIDU – which combine to make for 37.4% share. The ETF has amassed $169.9 million in AUM and charges 71 bps in annual fees from investors. Volume is good as it exchanges 156,000 shares in hand per day. The fund surged 16% in the trailing one-month period. Guggenheim China Technology ETF (NYSEARCA: CQQQ ) This fund targets the overall technology sector in China and follows the AlphaShares China Technology Index, holding 76 stocks in its basket. Alibaba dominates the fund’s return with 21.7% share while other firms hold no more than 9.5% of assets. In terms of industrial exposure, about 65% of the portfolio is allotted to Internet mobile applications while electronic components and semiconductors round off to the next two spots. The product manages an asset base of $56.7 million while trades in a small volume of around 40,000 shares a day. Expense ratio came in at 0.71%. CQQQ added 8.5% over the past one month. Global X China Technology ETF (NASDAQ: QQQC ) This ETF also targets the broad technology sector and tracks the NASDAQ OMX China Technology Index. It is unpopular and illiquid with AUM of just $15.9 million and average daily volume of around 9,000 shares. It charges 65 bps in annual fees and holds 38 stocks in its basket with none holding more than 9.05% of assets. About half of the portfolio is allotted to Internet mobile applications while communication equipment makes up for 12% share. QQQC was up 8.2% over the past one month. Global X China Consumer ETF (NYSEARCA: CHIQ ) This product offers exposure to the consumer sector in China by tracking the Solactive China Consumer Index. Holding 41 securities in its basket, it is pretty spread out across each component as none of these holds more than 5.68% share. The ETF is also well diversified across industries with automobile manufacturing, Internet retail, packaged food products, and apparel & luxury goods occupying double-digit exposure each. The fund has a lower level of $95.7 million in AUM and about 53,000 shares in average daily volume. It charges 65 bps in annual fees and expenses and added 4.6% over the past one month. Original Post

Insurance ETFs Shining Despite Dull Q3 Earnings

The Q3 earnings season hasn’t been all that encouraging for the financial sector as total earnings for 89.1% of the sector’s total market capitalization are up only 1.7% on 2.3% revenue decline. This is worse than Q2 and the four-quarter average earnings growth of 8.1% and 6.2%, respectively, on 0.8% and 1.3% revenue growth (read: Guide to the 7 Most Popular Financial ETFs ). Earnings surprises were also unimpressive with 53.7% of the companies beating earnings estimates and 42.7% of them beating on top lines. In particular, earnings from the insurance industry have been weaker with most players failing to beat or meet either our earnings or revenue estimates. MetLife (NYSE: MET ), Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU ) and American International (NYSE: AIG ) missed our estimate on the earnings front while Chubb Corp (NYSE: CB ) an Aflac Inc. (NYSE: AFL ) lagged revenues. However, Travelers (NYSE: TRV ) and Allstate (NYSE: ALL ) surpassed our estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Insurance Earnings in Focus Earnings at one of the leading property and casualty insurer – Chubb – strongly outpaced our estimate by 20.30% and improved 9% from the year-ago quarter. However, revenues of $3.47 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.51 billion. Another property and casualty insurer and an industry bellwether, Allstate , topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20 cents with earnings of $1.52, which improved 9.3% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 1% year over year to $9.03 billion and edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.98 billion (see: all the Financial ETFs here ). Aflac , the seller of supplement health insurance, posted earnings per share of $1.56, beating our estimate by eight cents and improving 3.3% year over year. However, revenues declined 12.1% year over year to $5.00 billion and fell shy of our estimate of $5.11 billion. Earnings of $2.93 at personal property and casualty insurer, Travelers trumped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 72 cents and improved 12.3% from the year-ago earnings. Revenues slid 1.3% year over year to $6.67 billion but surpassed our estimate of $6.63 billion. However, MetLife , the U.S. life insurer behemoth, reported disappointing earnings of 62 cents per share, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 and declining 62% from the year-ago earnings. However, revenues rose 0.3% year over year to $17.97 billion and were well ahead of our estimate of $17.47 billion. On the other hand, PRU , the second-largest U.S. life insurer, also missed our earnings estimate by three cents improved 9.1% year over year. Revenues declined 5.6% year over year to $11.1 billion but were on par with our estimate. The largest commercial insurer in the U.S. and Canada, AIG dampened investor’s mood with a huge earnings miss of 49.5% and year-over year decline of 56%. However, revenues of $13.16 billion came above our estimate of $13.06 billion. ETFs in Focus Despite unsatisfactory earnings, insurance ETFs have moved up from a one-month look buoyed up by speculations of an interest rate hike. This is because the sector is a clear beneficiary of a rising interest rate environment. Investors looking to gain exposure to this corner of the market segment in a diversified way may consider the following ETFs. SPDR S&P Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA: KIE ) This fund follows the S&P Insurance Select Industry Index and offers an equal weight exposure to 51 stocks, suggesting no concentration risk. None of the securities holds more than 2.28% of total assets. More than one-third of the portfolio is allocated to the property and casualty insurance sector while life & health insurance accounts for another one-fourth share. The ETF has managed $625 million in its asset base and trades in a moderate average daily volume of over 107,000 shares. The product has an expense ratio of 0.35% and gained nearly 4.6 over the past one month. It has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 or ‘Hold’ rating with a Medium risk outlook. iShares U.S. Insurance ETF (NYSEARCA: IAK ) With AUM of $130.9 million, this product tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Select Insurance Index and charges 43 bps in annual fees. Volume is light, trading in roughly 29,000 shares per day. In total, the fund holds 63 securities in its basket with the largest allocation going to American International at 13.6%, closely followed by Metlife at 9.5%. Other firms hold less than 6.5% of assets. For an industry look, property & casualty insurance accounts for 42.2% share while life & health insurance and multiline insurance round off the top three with double-digit exposure each. IAK is up 6.5% from a one-month look and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 or ‘Buy’ rating with a Medium risk outlook. PowerShares KBW Insurance Portfolio ETF (NYSEARCA: KBWI ) This fund tracks the KBW Nasdaq Insurance Index and holds 23 securities in its basket. Each firm holds less than 9% share each with TRV, PRU and MET occupying the top three spots. While insurance makes up for 95% of the portfolio, consumer finance and banks take the remainder. The product has amassed about $14.4 million in AUM while volume is paltry at about 1,400 shares. The ETF charges an annual fee of 35 bps and added 6.5% in the trailing one-month period. It has a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 with a High risk outlook. Link to the original post on Zacks.com

5 Best-Rated T. Rowe Price Mutual Funds For High Returns

T. Rowe Price is a renowned publicly owned investment management firm, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company was founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price, Jr. The company manages assets worth $725.5 billion (as of September 30, 2015). It prides itself in having more than 5,000 employees across the world. The company offers a full range of investment planning and guidance tools. It also offers mutual funds, subadvisory services, retirement plans and separate account management for individual clients. Below, we share with you 5 top-rated T. Rowe Price mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and we expect the fund to outperform its peers in the future. T. Rowe Price Financial Services (MUTF: PRISX ) seeks both capital growth and current income. The majority of its assets are invested in companies in the financial services sector. PRISX may also purchase securities of companies with significant linkages to the sector. The T. Rowe Price Financial Services fund returned 7.9% in the last one year. As of September 2015, this T. Rowe Price mutual fund held 87 issues, with 4.41% of its total assets invested in Citigroup Inc. T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth (MUTF: RPMGX ) maintains a diversified portfolio by investing a large chunk of its assets in companies having market capitalizations similar to those listed in the S&P MidCap 400 Index or the Russell Midcap Growth Index. RPMGX invests in companies having above-average growth potential. Though RPMGX focuses on acquiring common stocks of domestic companies, it may also invest in companies located outside the U.S. The T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth fund has returned 12.6% over the past one year. RPMGX has an expense ratio of 0.77% as compared to a category average of 1.28%. T. Rowe Price Global Technology (MUTF: PRGTX ) invests the majority of its assets in companies which expect to derive a large proportion of their revenues from the development and application of technology. PRGTX generally invests in at least 5 countries and allocates 25% of its investments to stocks of companies located outside the U.S. The T. Rowe Price Global Technology fund has returned 21.8% over the past one year. Joshua K. Spencer is the fund manager and has managed PRGTX since 2012. T. Rowe Price International Discovery (MUTF: PRIDX ) seeks capital growth over the long term. PRIDX invests a large share of its assets in foreign companies and purchases stocks issued from both mature and emerging markets. PRIDX focuses on investing in small and mid-cap companies. The T. Rowe Price International Discovery fund has returned 8.9% over the past one year. PRIDX has an expense ratio of 1.21% as compared to a category average of 1.53%. T. Rowe Price Health Sciences (MUTF: PRHSX ) invests a major portion of its assets in common stocks of companies whose primary operations are related to health sciences. PRHSX focuses on investing in large and mid-cap firms. PRHSX may also invest in non-U.S. securities. The T. Rowe Price Health Sciences fund returned 16.7% over the last one-year period. Taymour R. Tamaddon is the fund manager and has managed PRHSX since 2013. Original Post