Barron's Recap: What's Next For ETFs?

This weekend in Barron's online: the 2015 Barron's ETF Roundtable, boosting diversity in Silicon Valley, Merrill Lynch's "Advisor to the Stars," as well as the prospects for Eaton, C.H. Robinson, Teradata, Forestar and more.

Cover Story

"ETFs: What's Next?" by Chris Dieterich.

In this week's cover story, Barron's consulted four of the exchange traded fund (ETF) industry's most influential thinkers for clues on what is in store for ETF investors.

The Roundtable experts highlight ETFs that invest in short-term bonds to cope with rising interest rates, international stock ETFs that hedge currency exposure and ETFs made up of so-called green companies. They also discuss the status of new, actively managed ETFs, which sacrifice some transparency to gain acceptance in what has been a mostly passive investment sector.

See also: Best And Worst ETFs Of The Week Amid Euro Meltdown

Feature Stories

"Eaton Has 20% Upside and a 3.3% Yield" by Jack Hough discusses how Eaton Corp plc ETN is being punished for its currency exposure, even though the power management company has reduced risk by diversifying its business mix. Is that a buying opportunity?

Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal's "C.H. Robinson Is Set to Beat the Traffic" points out that favorable trends in the trucking industry, such as industry consolidation and regulatory changes, are steering logistics giant C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. CHRW toward double-digit earnings growth.

In "A Pioneering Data Miner Struggles to Dig Out," Sandra Ward takes a look at why Teradata Corporation TDC could fall up to 20 percent as cheaper alternatives for data storage and analytics from the likes of Amazon and Cisco gain traction, stifling the company's growth.

Weakness in the oil-and-gas business of Forestar Group Inc. FOR is overshadowing the strength of its land-development operations, according to "Forestar Turns Back to the Land" by David Englander. See why a shift in strategy has it poised for a turnaround.

Check out "Neuberger Berman: More Gains, Fewer Pains" by Sarah Max for a profile of Charles Kantor, Head of the Kantor Group at Neuberger Berman. This Long Short fund's manager discusses how he succeeds by going both long and short.

In Michael Vallo's "Advisor to the Stars," Merrill Lynch's Rebecca Rothstein, who advises some of the biggest names in Hollywood, offers her best advice on likely takeover targets as the media and telecom sectors consolidate. Also, see why she likes real estate and master limited partnerships (MLPs) now.

All Star Code, a nonprofit that helps underprivileged high schoolers master the skills needed to crack Silicon Valley's upper ranks, is the focus of this week's Penta article, "Wall Street's Lesson for Silicon Valley." Meet the heiress who is trying to boost diversity at tech firms.

In follow-up article "The Euro Could Fall Below $1, Perhaps as Low as 82 Cents," find out why momentum and quantitative easing could push the euro much lower. Do not expect euro stocks to continue their bull run, warns Barron's.

In Barron's Asia: "China Has a New Tourist Mecca: CITS" by Isabella Zhong says that the operator of world's biggest duty free shop is a great bet on Chinese tourism and the offshore allure of the scenic island of Hainan, often called China's Hawaii.

"Requiem for a Heavyweight" is an editorial commentary by Thomas G. Donlan focused on how the governor of New Jersey creates his own problems.

See also: Is There Technological Turmoil In The Financial Services Industry?

Columns

Columns in this weekend's Barron's discuss:

• The great divided between global economies and financial markets
• Whether the buildup to a rate hike is scarier than the hike itself
• Republicans' chances of eliminating the U.S. budget deficit in a decade
• Who would pay $17,000 for an Apple Watch that will be obsolete in two years
• Closed-end bond funds vs. exchange traded funds
• The good news and the bad in recent labor data
• The big banks that are boosting dividends

At the time of this writing, the author had no position in the mentioned equities.

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