Read The Fine Print With The Spin-Off ETF

News of Expedia's EXPE plan to spin-off its TripAdvisor unit into a separate, publicly-traded entity is the latest tidbit in what has been a robust flow of corporate spin-offs over the last year and the news underscores a couple of important points. First, the investment community is often split about spin-offs. There is the camp that believes these events are bulllish signs and that they indicate a healthy economy. Then there is the group that thinks spin-offs are nothing more than cosmetic posturing on the part of a company challenged to create shareholder value. No matter what school of thought you subscribe to, just be sure to read the fine print on the Guggenheim Spin-Off ETF CSD before jumping into the fund just because spin-offs are picking up. In fairness to CSD, the ETF is trading at a 52-week high as this missive is being penned and is up almost 17% in the past year, so this is by no means a "bad" ETF. That said, investors need to know what CSD is about before buying the shares. From the Guggenheim Web site: "The universe of companies eligible for inclusion in the Index includes companies that have been spun-off within the past 30 months but not more recently than six months prior to the applicable rebalancing date..." In other words, if you buy CSD today, you won't find last week's spin-offs among its holdings. Perhaps even more disappointing is the fact that recent noteworthy spin-offs such as Motorola Mobility MMI aren't in the ETF either. The time constraints imposed by CSD arguably put the ETF at a disadvantage. As an example, the ETF holds AOL AOL, which is as a spin-off about as useful as the upcoming "Jersey Shore" spin-off, but a pair of the best spin-offs ever, Chipotle CMG and Coach COH are nowhere to be found. That's disappointing. Also of interest will be how CSD treats the upcoming Expedia spin-off and looming spin-offs from ITT ITT and Marathon Oil MRO. Only time will tell on those issues, just know what you're getting involved in with CSD before clicking the "buy" button.