Gabelli Adds Fourth ETF To Lineup

Yesterday, Gabelli Funds added yet another ETF to its small but growing lineup of actively managed ETFs that rely on nontransparent models to obscure their holdings.  

The manager of the Gabelli Financial Services Opportunities ETF (GABF) selects financial sector stocks from a global universe based on the issuer’s internal research and macroeconomic outlook.  

GABF lists on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday with an expense ratio of 0.90%. However, as it has done with other ETFs it offers, Gabelli is waiving the fees for investors on the fund’s first $25 million in assets under management for its first year of trading.  

The ETF looks to be similar to the Gabelli Global Financial Services Fund, which comes in a mutual fund wrapper. It carries the ticker “GAFSX” and has a net expense ratio of 1.25%. Although the two products have different managers, both target the financial services sector at the global level.  

GAFSX’s portfolio at the end of March included Jefferies Financial Group, Janus Henderson Group and Bank of New York Mellon as its top three holdings. 

Like the other Gabelli ETFs, GABF relies on Precidian’s ActiveShares model, which requires disclosure of portfolio holdings at least once a quarter. There are currently roughly 50 actively managed ETFs trading on the U.S. market that rely on models that allow them to forgo daily public disclosure of their portfolios.  

Gabelli Funds, a well-known active management firm owned by GAMCO Investors, entered the ETF market with the launch of the Gabelli Love Our Planet & People ETF (LOPP), a U.S.-focused fund that seeks to combine a value-oriented strategy with ESG criteria, in February 2021.  

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]