Piggyback Your Favorite Activist Investors With This ETF

Coattail investing is a simple concept: If a stock is worthy of Warren Buffett's attention and investment dollars, then surely its good enough for ordinary investors.

Investors who don't feel that their own investment needs and strategies align with Buffett's long-term investing philosophy could find other Wall Street billionaires and titans to coattail.

This is where the exchange-traded fund (ETF) Global X Guru Activist ETF ACTX comes in.

A Deep Dive Into ACTX

The ETF is designed to mirror the performance of the Solactive Guru Activist Index. According to the fund's prospectus, companies included in the index are equity positions held by premier activist investors.

Related Link: 4 Ways You Can Ride The Coattails Of Billionaire Investors

"Activist investors are selected from a universe of investors that aim to buy securities to put public pressure on management to increase shareholder value, as defined by the Index Provider," the prospectus noted. "Once the pool of activist investors has been determined, the Index Provider utilizes Form 13F filings and Schedule 13D filings to compile the top 50 aggregate stock holdings held by the pool of activist investors, after screening for certain liquidity and market capitalization requirements."

ETF Performance

The Global X Guru Activist ETF has gained 7.51 percent since the start of 2016, but it is actually lower by nearly 3 percent over the past year and down almost 10 percent since its inception in May 2015.

By comparison, the S&P 500 index is up 6.8 percent since the start of 2016 and up 4.3 percent over the past year.

Investors looking to mimic a single activist investor can do so by investing in Carl Icahn's holding company Icahn Enterprises LP IEP. However, his fund is underperforming the ETF and the S&P 500 given its year-to-date loss of 3.8 percent and nearly 20 percent decline from a year ago.

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