ProShares Launches 3 Thematic ETFs

Fresh off the $1 billion gain in assets from the launch of the first-ever U.S. bitcoin-linked ETF last week, ProShares is rolling out a trio of thematic ETFs.

The ProShares On-Demand ETF (OND), the ProShares Nanotechnology ETF (TINY) and the ProShares Smart Materials ETF (TINT) debuted on the NYSE Arca on Wednesday, each with an expense ratio of 0.58%.

All three follow indexes from FactSet and Solactive covering their respective themes across multiple industries, and reconstitute every May and November.

TINT tracks companies that develop or use materials that respond to the environment. TINY tracks companies that manipulate matter at an atomic and molecular level for use in medicine and electronics. Moderna is the largest holding in TINY, with 9.32% of the fund, while chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is second, with a 5.46% allocation.

OND follows companies that generate revenue from on-demand activities ranging from on-demand video streaming to ride-sharing and other immediate services. Its index is far broader than the indexes underlying TINT and TINY, as it adds virtual reality, food delivery and gaming to its scope of investable industries.

That spread in industries is seen in OND’s top holdings, which include DoorDash, Netflix, Snap, Electronic Arts and Spotify, with more than 5% of the fund’s assets apiece.

Future Prospects

ProShares cites various research firm reports for outlining the funds’ future prospects. Figures from Mordor Intelligence predict that the on-demand industry will grow from $403 billion in 2020 to $604 billion by 2023.

The smart-materials industry is projected to grow from $44 billion in market value from 2019 to a projected $110 billion in 2026, according to BrandEssence Market Research, and Emergen Research suggests nanotechnology will become a $290 billion industry by 2028.

(Use our stock finder tool to find an ETF’s allocation to a certain stock.)

ProShares’ Executive Director of Thematic Investing Scott Helfstein said the funds are being offered as a way for investors to capture the upside of trends that change how businesses operate in the future.

He also said the new ETFs are companion funds to the ProShares S&P Kensho Smart Factories ETF (MAKX), the ProShares Big Data Refiners ETF (DAT) and the ProShares S&P Kensho Cleantech ETF (CTEX), a trio of thematic funds that launched in late September.

“We see these six as linked together, and are really about the future of business,” Helfstein said.

Contact Dan Mika at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter