(HHK)

All Comments on HHK

  • commenter
    Ralph F
    Jun 15 06:41 AM
    Healthcare, Pharma and Biotech ETFs [view article]
    The Matt Hougan article on theme ETF expenses is helpful -- thanks for the pointer. He's right -- makes you want to buy the stocks of the ETF firms more than the ETFs themselves. Reply
  • commenter
    Frank Li
    Jun 15 06:33 AM
    Watch Expenses & Spreads For HealthShares, PowerShares, WisdomTree ETFs [view article]
    Very interesting article. Spreads and expenses are rising on the new specialty ETFs, while the broad index ETFs are getting cheaper due to competition (eg. the new bond ETFs from State Street and Vanguard).

    Perhaps investors who want to play themes, (like healthcare subsectors and "green" investing) just don't care about expenses. If that's correct, the specialty ETF providers will have very profitable businesses.     Reply
  • commenter
    Alan
    Brochstein
    May 09 10:25 AM
    My Website
    Are HealthShares ETFs Too Specialized? [view article]
    When I first learned of the HealthShares concept, I was rather excited. I had always found that there were very few healthcare funds that invested in smaller companies (the few that do are actively managed). Any sort of passive vehicle was heavily weighted by Big Pharma, as are most of the actively managed ones.

    Well, these guys have gone WAY too far. This is far too specialized. Any investors in these funds had better be prepared to be long-term holders, as the liquidity will probably never be very good. Perhaps going as a mutual fund might have made more sense.     Reply
  • commenter
    SeekingAlpha
    Editors
    Apr 16 06:22 PM
    My Website
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    Having hit the time limit on this interactive Q&A, we're now closing it to further questions.

    Many thanks to Mr Feldman for his participation, and to Seeking Alpha's readers for their questions and comments.     Reply
  • commenter
    David
    Jackson
    Apr 16 08:15 AM
    My Website
    Healthcare, Pharma and Biotech ETFs [view article]
    Have we missed out any ETFs here? Or any Seeking Alpha articles that are important to understanding them? If so, please leave a comment and let us know! Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 13 08:56 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    Thanks, Tom. No, I have no formal training in either medicine or healthcare. I do have close to 40 years on Wall Street and I have taught macroeconomics for nearly that long. I started my career as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs and then started my own firm in the 70's. I have spent my life studying the nexus of the capital markets and the macro-economy and have devoted my business career to developing capital market tools when I think they are needed. I became sensitized to the current healthcare crisis in the US about 8 years ago and recognized that we needed to find a way to invest in the innovations that might alleviate the crisis. Thus began a journey that led me to create HealthShares. It may appear that we have burst on the scene, but this has been a long slog. The press may have have its fun calling me stupid, but I can assure all that a great deal of effort and thought went into the creation of this product. Reply
  • commenter
    tlydon
    Apr 13 05:31 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    Jeff-

    I caught a portion of your presentation at the World Series of ETFs in Miami a few weeks ago. Nice Job. It's apparent you're either educated in the medical area or have some experience in the health care arena. Would you mind sharing a little more about your background? It's refreshing to see a CEO with the in-depth knowledge and enthusiasm in the products offered.

    Not a bad week for performance and fund flow for HealthShares funds either.

    Thank you,

    Tom Lydon
    ETFtrends.com     Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 13 07:11 AM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    The expense ratio for HealthShares Therapeutic ETFs is 75 basis points. Our European Drugs ETF has a 95 basis point expense cap. Although 75 bps is higher than many other ETFs, it is roughly equivalent to the expense load of other specialized products.

    WTFs, like other index funds in general, generate fewer capital gains due to low turnover of the securities in the portfolio. Generally, ETFs only sell securities to reflect changes in their benchmark index.

    Investors in mutual funds may incur significant tax expense when the fund sees redemptions from shareholders. Because ETFs are exchange-traded, selling shareholders sell to other investors in the secondary market. In addition, since ETFs have a creation/redemption facility that allows actual securities, rather than cash, to be distributed to Authorized Participants, there is no realization of capital gain to be distributed to shareholders. Of course, liquidating an ETF position will generate capital gains or losses for the shareholder.     Reply
  • commenter
    David
    Jackson
    Apr 13 01:47 AM
    My Website
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    FYI for readers:

    ProFunds provides inverse ETFs (ETFs that provide the opposite performance to an index, so if the index rises the ETF falls -- a short bet), leveraged ETFs (ETFs that provide twice the performance of an index, so if the index rises by 1% the ETF rises by 2%), and short leveraged ETFs (if the index rises by 1%, the ETF falls by 2% -- a strong short bet). The ProFunds family includes inverse and leveraged ETFs covering the main indexes, growth and value, and individual sectors.

    You can find articles on the ProFunds ETFs here.     Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 12 07:12 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    I cannot comment about carbon credits at this time.

    As to State Shares, I believe many investors will be interested in these securities.

    I have a hard time understanding why investors want to put significant assets into emerging markets. Peter Lynch has always said, "invest in what you know." Investing in emerging markets is investing in what you know....nothing about. But investors are seeking to isolate asset classes.

    Personally, I'd rather isolate California and invest there as opposed to Turkey or Malaysia. Maybe that's just me.

    Your conjecture about state governments is correct.     Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 12 07:08 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    ETFs are here to stay and will be a significant asset class. Mutual funds and ETFs will co-exist. There will be ETFs of mutual funds and mutual funds of ETFs. Some mutual fund sponsors will find they can best grow their assets under management by creating ETFs.

    To some extent, growth of ETFs will be a function of what happens in the stock market. I believe the biggest impediment to asset growth would be a roaring bull market. In such a scenario, greed routs fear and individuals are emboldened to buy the individual stocks that are rising the fastest. In a prolonged bear or sideways market, fear wins out and investors will seek to minimize costs which favors ETFs.

    The ETF industry can be as profitable as the mutual fund business. Technology will continue to evolve and we will likely see costs decline faster than expense loads over the next several years. Of course, the wild card is what happens in the mutual fund industry. If mutual funds can become competitive with ETFs on fees and expenses, then the margins for ETFs will be squeezed.     Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 12 06:42 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    We agree that adding low-correlated assets to a portfolio can add the benefits of diversification and make a portfolio more efficient. The HealthShares Indexes are not highly correlated to the Large-Cap HealthCare Sector and in most cases they are not highly correlated to each other.

    From 2001 through 2006, based on our back-tested results, the HealthShares Indexes had correlations between 0.46 to 0.61 with the S&P 500 HealthCare Sector (not including the HealthShares Composite Index which came in at 0.7).

    For a complete analysis of the correlation of the HealthShares Indexes contact us at 800.925.2870.     Reply
  • commenter
    David
    Jackson
    Apr 12 03:41 PM
    My Website
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    Jeff, two quick follow-ups if I may on the overall ETF industry.

    -- What do you think the impact on the mutual fund industry will be of ETFs?

    -- How profitable do you think the ETF industry will be?

    Many thanks,
    David Jackson     Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 12 02:37 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    The industry needs a Bloomberg for ETFs. We need data and analytics for investors.

    You are correct, this is truly a gating issue that must be addressed.     Reply
  • commenter
    Jeff Feldman
    Apr 12 02:34 PM
    Interactive Q&A: Jeffrey L. Feldman, Creator of HealthShares and Founder and Chairman of XShares Group LLC [view article]
    They are equal weighted. In a $2 trillion dollar industry, progress will occur at different rates in different therapeutic areas and this will occur with different risk profiles. Hence it makes sense to engage in asset allocation and perhaps trade one against the other. Reply
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