An Advisor Embraces A Pair Of Values-Based ETFs

Sometimes, all it takes to change the fortunes of scuffling exchange traded funds is one well-heeled advisor or investor to decide to allocate to these funds.

That could prove to be the case for the Inspire Global Hope Large Cap ETF BLES and the Inspire Small/Mid Cap Impact ETF ISMD, which recently turned two years old.

What Happened

Earlier this month, volume in the two faith-based ETFs exploded and data confirm it was buying volume, courtesy of a Pennsylvania-based registered investment advisor.

On March 12, “BLES recorded 1.13 million shares traded, ISMD recorded 952,400 shares traded and IBD recorded 978,200 shares traded,” according to a statement from Inspire Global, the funds' issuer. “This buying volume represented roughly $80 million in net new assets and propelled Inspire’s total assets under management (AUM) to $361 million as of March 14.”

Why It's Important

Ambassador Advisors is the RIA that jumped into BLES and ISMD. That firm, which has $520 million in assets under management, is transitioning those assets to faith-based investment, such as BLES and ISMD.

BLES, which targets the Inspire Global Hope Large Cap Equal Weight Index, now has a respectable $136.20 million in assets under management, or more than a third of Inspire's total ETF assets under management, according to issuer data.

Thanks to the inflows from Ambassador Advisors, the mid- and small-cap ISMD has $78.18 million in assets under management. That ETF tracks the Inspire Small/Mid Cap Impact Equal Weight Index, which is a collection of the 500 “most inspiring” mid- and small-cap stocks.

About half of ISMD's lineup is allocated to companies with market values of $1 billion to $2 billion while another 50 percent is allocated to companies with market caps of $2 billion to $3.5 billion.

What's Next

BLES and ISMD are two of Inspire's four ETFs. BLES charges 0.38 percent per year, or $38 on a $10,000 investment, while ISMD has an annual fee of 0.61 percent.

Inspire's scoring methodology penalizes companies with exposure to abortion, pornography, human rights violations, LGBT activism, alcohol, tobacco and gambling and those companies are excluded from the firm's ETFs.

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