WEBVTT - Kirwan on Smart Beta ETFs (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Taking Stock with Kathleen Hayes and Pim

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<v Speaker 1>Fox on Bloomberg Radio. We are broadcasting from the b

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<v Speaker 1>n Y Melan E t F Symposium in Data Point

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<v Speaker 1>to California. I'm Pim Fox, my co host Kathleen Hayes.

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<v Speaker 1>Joining us now is Karen Kerwin. He is a senior

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<v Speaker 1>investment strategist for pro Shares. Karen, thanks very much for

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<v Speaker 1>being here. Great to be here. Smart Beta. You've got

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<v Speaker 1>to help me understand what exactly this is because I

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<v Speaker 1>keep hearing how this is a big turning point for

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<v Speaker 1>a smart beta evaluation. How do you describe it to people? Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>and I heard you mentioned before it is a bit

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<v Speaker 1>of an unfortunate term because it would imply, of course

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<v Speaker 1>that if everything other than smart beta would be dumb.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course that is exactly that is not the case.

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<v Speaker 1>But uh, the genie is out of the bottom a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit, so we are to some extent stuck with

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<v Speaker 1>that term. You know, I think there's there's two ways

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<v Speaker 1>to really think about smart beta um, and it's not

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<v Speaker 1>really all that complicated. It's been around for a long time.

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<v Speaker 1>One of which is to just describe it as any

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<v Speaker 1>type of investment strategy right that doesn't rely on a

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<v Speaker 1>market capitalization waiting like the SP like the SMP five hundred,

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<v Speaker 1>which takes its price divided by the SHARE's outstanding and

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<v Speaker 1>you get a weight you know, in all these securities. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>So a simple take on that would be UM the

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<v Speaker 1>SMP five hundred equally, way to take all the SMP

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<v Speaker 1>five names and instead of market cap waiting them, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you equally wait them. That is by definition one form

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<v Speaker 1>of smart beta UM. But really the other way to

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<v Speaker 1>think about it is investment strategies that look to exploit

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<v Speaker 1>a so called factor or thing, a dynamic, a characteristic

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<v Speaker 1>in the marketplace that have explained returns over time. And

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<v Speaker 1>I just want you to continue down this path because

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<v Speaker 1>last a year ago here at in a point at

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<v Speaker 1>the bing My melanconference, I moderate a smart beta panel.

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<v Speaker 1>So to even understand it, I had to read a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of different things. And it's this whole point of

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<v Speaker 1>looking returns and then also bringing in quantitative models. How

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<v Speaker 1>does that part of it work? Sure, it's it's understanding

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<v Speaker 1>what's driven returns over over time, So understanding things like size.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, for example, stocks with a smaller size may

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<v Speaker 1>have delivered performance over time, things like low volatility. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>Stocks that have demonstrated low levels of volatility over time

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<v Speaker 1>have in fact explained much of stock market returns. So

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<v Speaker 1>is it a case then where you take you're still

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<v Speaker 1>going to have a certain maybe take part of the

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<v Speaker 1>s and P find to do something, and you just

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<v Speaker 1>add in a couple more of these themes or realities

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<v Speaker 1>to juice up the return that you would have if

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<v Speaker 1>you do and have the smartness in there. Sure, So

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's applying a specific factor to a group of

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<v Speaker 1>stocks with the hopes of identifying or tilting your portfolio

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<v Speaker 1>to get exposure to a particular factor that you may

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<v Speaker 1>want uh to exploit in a particular period of time. Dividends,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, would be a good example. Everybody wants exposure

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<v Speaker 1>in this type of market environment two companies that pay dividends,

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<v Speaker 1>so dividends in a way are considered a factor, and

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<v Speaker 1>dividends in this case would be the smart beta strategy

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<v Speaker 1>correct is one example. There are many factors out there

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<v Speaker 1>that academics that practitioners have defined and created investment strategies around. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>The purest kind of definition of smart beta would rely

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<v Speaker 1>on probably more of a handful of factors, um. But again,

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<v Speaker 1>in practice there are many many factors that are being

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<v Speaker 1>employed over the last year. Then, since we were here,

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<v Speaker 1>what what are one or two? What are a couple

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<v Speaker 1>of the smart beta tactic strategies that have worked especially well? Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>so I mentioned one of them already, which would be dividends, right,

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<v Speaker 1>Companies that pay dividends. For example, people looking to replace

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<v Speaker 1>some of their income needs in their portfolio at a

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<v Speaker 1>time when interest rates are very low, people are looking

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<v Speaker 1>for the stocks that pay dividends as a way to

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<v Speaker 1>compliment them in their portfolio. Another great example, um, would

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<v Speaker 1>be low volatility stocks. Right. And those are kind of

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<v Speaker 1>different complimentary in some ways, um, And they're more probably

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<v Speaker 1>risk focused in nature, meaning that people who are looking

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<v Speaker 1>to perhaps protect gains in the stock market over the

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<v Speaker 1>last couple of years are looking to identify stocks that

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<v Speaker 1>have a low level of volatility in hopes that they

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<v Speaker 1>will outperform. Now, just to understand a little bit more

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<v Speaker 1>in depth, you can you who's the smart beta philosophy

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<v Speaker 1>internally inside the portfolio? Correct? I mean you can say, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>here's my portfolio. Let's say you were I'm not suggesting

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<v Speaker 1>you should be a hundred invested in long biotech. Then

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<v Speaker 1>you could go and look for an E t F

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<v Speaker 1>that would mitigate some of the volatility or risk, and

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<v Speaker 1>as a result that would work as a smart beta,

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<v Speaker 1>but within the portfolio, not necessarily worrying about the absolute

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<v Speaker 1>performance outside correct. Yeah, you can employ smart beta strategies

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<v Speaker 1>in many different contexts in your portfolio. One way is

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<v Speaker 1>to enhance returns. Another way is to reduce risks um.

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<v Speaker 1>A third possible application is to get yourself exposure to

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<v Speaker 1>a particular factor that you may believe that investors may

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<v Speaker 1>believe may be a good time to invest in. So

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<v Speaker 1>a number of applications to the smart beta phenomenon. Karen Kurwin,

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<v Speaker 1>we are definitely smarter about beta than we were before

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<v Speaker 1>we started this conversation. Here in a senior investment stratego

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<v Speaker 1>just at pro Shares. He's joining me Kathleen Hayes and

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<v Speaker 1>my co host Pim Fox at B and Y Melons

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<v Speaker 1>E t F Exchange sixteen here in Dana Pointe, California.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg