SPA ETF Launches Market-Beating ETF Lineup

Alpha-seeking investors got a new set of tools Wednesday after SPA ETFs announced the launch of six Amex-traded ETFs that use indexes created by research firm MarketGrader. MarketGrader 40 (SFV), MarketGrader 100 (SIH), and MarketGrader 200 (SNB) are baskets of 40, 100 and 200 top-rated North American securities, based on MarketGrader's proprietary evaluation and weighting methodology. Based on real-time track records, the MarketGrader 40 index returned 67.75% over the past five years, compared to the 29.63% for the S&P 500. MarketGrader Small Cap (SSK), Mid Cap (SVD) and Large Cap (SZG) use similar methodologies to choose the top-100 stocks within each market cap category. Stocks in all the indexes are equally weighted, and selected using fundamental-based analysis that looks at 24 quantitative indicators. The ETFs charge 0.85% in fees, among the highest fees in the market, attesting to the company's apparent confidence in its index-beating strategy: "We have found in MarketGrader a fundamentally based methodology system that has a solid performance history, and we are confident that this will provide investors with an investment tool that will stand out among this growing market," SPA ETF director Daniel Freedman said. "These are not passive indexes by any stretch of the imagination," President Tony Drain said. "If you look at the performance on all six strategies going back to 2003, it is quite impressive."

Sources: Press release, Seeking Alpha
Commentary: MarketGrader Hopes To Bring Past Outperformance To the ETF Market • Barron's Takes On Fundamental Indexing • A Look at New ETFs Hitting the Market
Stocks to watch: SFV, SIH, SNB, SSK, SVD, SZG
Related: SPA ETF website

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