ETF Watch: Davis Launches First Funds

Davis Funds rolled out its first trio of ETFs today. The actively managed funds all rely on Davis’s in-house investment discipline, which is based on identifying companies with proven management, a durable franchise and sustainable competitive advantages, the prospectus says. The firm believes such companies have greater ability to generate long-term value.

The ETFs that launched on the Nasdaq stock exchange and their expense ratios are as follows:

• Davis Select U.S. Equity ETF (DUSA), 0.60%
• Davis Select Financial ETF (DFNL), 0.65%
• Davis Select Worldwide ETF (DWLD), 0.65%

The U.S. portfolios generally include 15-35 securities. DWLD invests in both U.S. and foreign companies, but the U.S. companies generally generate at least 50% of their revenues outside the U.S. or have other strong ties to non-U.S. countries. The prospectus notes that the fund will generally invest in companies from at least three different countries.

PowerShares Treasury Fund Has A Twist 

Invesco PowerShares has rolled out its first fund of 2017 on the NYSE Arca. The PowerShares Treasury Collateral Portfolio (CLTL) tracks the ICE U.S. Treasury Short Bond Index, which covers Treasury obligations that have between one month and one year of remaining maturity and at least $300 million outstanding.

CLTL comes with an expense ratio of just 0.08%. The fund is designed to be used by investors who need to post collateral, either for margin or nonmargin purposes, the press release says.

CLTL is certainly not the first fund of its kind, but it is the first to be designed to be used as collateral. Interestingly, it tracks the same index as the largest ultra-short-term Treasury ETF currently trading, the $4 billion iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV); however, SHV comes with an expense ratio of 0.15%, almost twice the cost of CLTL. 

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].