Ark Invest’s proven track record with thematic investing has boosted sentiment around the whole space, said Christian Magoon, CEO at Amplify ETFs.
Led by Ark’s founder, CEO and chief investment officer, Cathie Wood, the firm’s actively managed ETFs have shown impressive performance over the years. Since their respective launches,
“She’s … been a champion for thematic ETF investing,” Magoon told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” in a Monday interview. “She proved that you can be active in certain themes and create alpha.”
Ark’s focus is largely on long-term growth via disruptive innovation. Tesla, Teladoc and Square are some of its largest overall holdings.
Magoon’s firm runs a host of thematic ETFs including Amplify’s popular Online Retail ETF (IBUY) and the newly launched Amplify Thematic All Stars ETF (MVPS), a fund trading the most popular stocks among ETF investors.
Whether Wood’s vision, the Covid pandemic’s economic impact or a combination of catalysts, investors are more open to themes than ever before, said Jay Jacobs, senior vice president and head of research and strategy at Global X ETFs.
Thematic assets and ETFs have gone from making up roughly half of 1% of the total ETF industry before the pandemic to about 2.2% now, a nearly fourfold increase, Jacobs said in the same “ETF Edge” interview.
Global X offers numerous thematic ETFs including the U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE), the Lithium & Battery Technology ETF (LIT), and the Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ).
“We’ve seen thematic investing really come into the limelight over the last 18 months or so,” Jacobs said. “I think we’re frankly just getting started. But there’s been a lot of accelerants recently.”
