As far as product names go, the Day Hagan/Ned Davis Research Smart Sector ETF is a mouthful. But the fund, which filed for registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, could resonate with financial advisors who tap into the investment strategies from Ned Davis Research, a Venice, Fla.-based investment research firm.
The fund is a collaboration between NDR and Day Hagan Asset Management LLC, a tactical asset management firm in Sarasota, Fla. According to Day Hagan’s website, its investing M.O. is that buy-and-hold strategies are no longer relevant.
Day Hagan will actively manage this proposed exchange-traded fund by using proprietary investment models co-developed with NDR. As described in the registration filing, this product will be a fund of funds that invests mainly in ETFs tracking the performance of the 11 individual sectors within the S&P 500 Index. The fund will attempt to create alpha relative to the index by overweighting and underweighting its exposure to the sectors relative to the index.
If the markets go south and the risk/reward outlook seems shaky, the fund could trim its equity exposure by as much as 50% and could hold up to half of its assets in cash and cash equivalents.
The fund managers will determine the sector allocations by employing the NDR U.S. sector model that combines price-based, economic, fundamental and behavioral indicators to form a composite for each sector. The fund’s registration statement posits that combining multiple indicators historically has added value in sector allocation decisions.
The fund’s sponsor is Strategy Shares Inc., a Huntington, N.Y., firm with three existing ETFs on the market. Two of those products—the Strategy Shares US Market Rotation Strategy ETF (HUSE) and Strategy Shares EcoLogical Strategy ETF (HECO)—both launched in mid-2012 and both are actively managed.
The third product, the Nasdaq 7HANDL Index ETF (HNDL), debuted in January 2018 and tracks an index allocated to a balanced portfolio of U.S. equities, bonds and alternative investments that employs leverage in an amount equal to 23% of the portfolio.
These three ETFs have net expense ratios ranging from 0.95% to 1.13%. The Day Hagan/Ned Davis Research Smart Sector ETF is slated to have a net expense ratio of 0.78%.