No Apple, No Problem For These Tech ETFs

Apple AAPL and its run to the stratosphere has been a boon for myriad tech ETFs. That much is clear and the Apple juggernaut has been good for tech ETFs beyond the Technology Select Sector SPDR XLK and the PowerShares QQQ QQQ. Yes, it should be noted that "only" 67.6% of QQQ's weight is in the tech sector, but when factoring in the ETF's weight to so-called consumer discretionary stocks such as Amazon AMZN, Priceline PCLN and Netflix NFLX, QQQ's tech-esque exposure jumps a fair amount. Home to almost $33.1 billion in assets under management, QQQ isn't just one of the biggest tech ETFs, it's one of the biggest U.S.-listed ETFs period. But as we always say around these parts bigger isn't always better. Several under-the-radar tech ETFs are outperforming QQQ year-to-date and what's even more surprising about this group is that none of these funds offer significant exposure to Apple. PowerShares NASDAQ Internet Portfolio PNQI Not only has the PowerShares NASDAQ Internet Portfolio outperformed QQQ this year, it has outperformed its most direct competitor, the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund FDN. PNQI is home to 63 stocks and not one of them is Apple, making the ETF's 14% year-to-date gain all the more impressive. Priceline, eBay EBAY, Baidu BIDU, Google GOOG and Amazon are PNQI's top-five holdings. Guggenheim China Technology ETF CQQQ We've been bullish on CQQQ for a while now and that posture has been rewarded. Simply put, tech has been good to investors this year as has China. Put them together and its all very good. As the ETF's name implies, CQQQ is home to all Chinese companies, 40 of them to be precise. No Apple, no problem. CQQQ has slightly outpaced QQQ this year. First Trust NASDAQ-100-Tech Index Fund QTEC OK, we've got to admit the First Trust NASDAQ-100-Tech Index Fund does have some Apple exposure. A whopping 2.64% of QTEC's weight was allocated to Apple as of the close on February 14. That compares to almost 17% of QQQ's weight going to the iPad maker. No big deal. QTEC could be 15% year-to-date by the close today and the ETF is less than 50 cents off its 52-week high. Note that QTEC is semiconductor heavy as that subsector accounts for over 37% of the ETF's weight, but Intel INTC is receives an allocation of just 2.3%. Rydex S&P Equal Weight Technology ETF RYT This is another ETF with some Apple exposure. All of 1.62% of the ETF's weight. Well, that doesn't really matter because the Rydex S&P Equal Weight Technology ETF has outperformed both QQQ and XLK this year. In the case of XLK, the margin is quite wide despite the SPDR fund devoting almost 17% of its weight to Apple.