NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VanEck today announced the launch of VanEck Vectors® Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) which provides investors value-added exposure to large cap U.S. stocks with the most bullish investor sentiment and perception.
“We are experiencing a monumental moment within the history of the retail investor—Twitter, Reddit, Stocktwits and dozens of other platforms have established communities for investors to discuss stocks and as a result of soaring online engagement they have become an alternative dataset for investors to scour and utilize for a performance edge,” said Ed Lopez, Managing Director, Head of ETF Product for VanEck. “BUZZ empowers individual investors to potentially benefit from the predictive insights gained by measuring the collective convictions about stocks, ultimately building the benchmark for social sentiment.”
BUZZ seeks to track as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the BUZZ NextGen AI US Sentiment Leaders Index (ticker: BUZZTR) (the “Index”). This Index, which is rebalanced monthly, is made up of the 75 large cap U.S. stocks that exhibit the highest degree of positive investor sentiment and bullish perception based on content aggregated from online sources including social media, news articles, blog posts and other alternative datasets. Millions of stock-specific messages and posts are filtered through an analytics model using Natural Language Processing technology to determine what the online community is saying about these stocks and whether the sentiment is positive, negative or neutral on a collective basis. The Index’s proprietary model then scores and ranks each stock based on the degree of positive sentiment and breadth of the discussion. The stocks with the highest scores are selected for inclusion and weighted according to their rank.
“The real power of the Index is its ability to distill millions of diverse opinions into actionable stock picks. It can identify stocks poised for strong future growth potential as well as stocks that could be considered contrarian and discounted value opportunities,” added Lopez.
“We created the BUZZ Index in 2015 because we saw the potential of the data. Alternative data sets like this are also what sophisticated institutional investors are now pouring over to find an edge.” Said Jamie Wise, CEO of Periscope Capital, a Toronto-based hedge fund manager. “VanEck is the ideal provider to help make this kind of strategy accessible to the masses and we’re excited to be working with them on this new ETF.”
BUZZ, which has an expense ratio of 75 bps, joins a strategic equity ETF suite that also includes VanEck’s “moat-focused” family of funds, such as the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT®), a $4 billion ETF designed to provide exposure to attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages.
About VanEck
VanEck has a history of looking beyond the financial markets to identify trends that are likely to create impactful investment opportunities. We were one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer investors access to international markets. This set the tone for the firm’s drive to identify asset classes and trends – including gold investing in 1968, emerging markets in 1993, and exchange traded funds in 2006 – that subsequently shaped the investment management industry.
Today, VanEck offers active and passive strategies with compelling exposures supported by well-designed investment processes. As of January 31, 2021, VanEck managed approximately $69.6 billion in assets, including mutual funds, ETFs and institutional accounts. The firm’s capabilities range from core investment opportunities to more specialized exposures to enhance portfolio diversification. Our actively managed strategies are fueled by in-depth, bottom-up research and security selection from portfolio managers with direct experience in the sectors and regions in which they invest. Investability, liquidity, diversity, and transparency are key to the experienced decision-making around market and index selection underlying VanEck’s passive strategies.
Since our founding in 1955, putting our clients’ interests first, in all market environments, has been at the heart of the firm’s mission.
Important Disclosures
An investment in VanEck Vectors® Social Sentiment ETF (BUZZ) may be subject to risks which include, among others, risks related to social media analytics, investing in equity securities, medium-capitalization companies, information technology, communication services, consumer discretionary, health care and industrials sectors, market, operational, high portfolio turnover, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, new fund, absence of prior active market, trading issues, passive management, fund shares trading, premium/discount and liquidity of fund shares, non-diversified and concentration risks which may make these investments volatile in price or difficult to trade. Medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks.
BUZZ NextGen AI US Sentiment Leaders Index (the “BUZZ Index”) is a product of BUZZ HOLDINGS ULC (“BUZZ Holdings”), and has been Licensed to Van Eck Corporation for use in connection with the VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF. “BUZZ” is a trademark of BUZZ Holdings, which have been licensed by Van Eck Associates Corporation for use in connection with the BUZZ Index. VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BUZZ Holdings or its shareholders, including Periscope Capital Inc., or the licensor of the BUZZ Index, and/or their respective affiliates and third party licensors. BUZZ Holdings makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF, particularly or the ability of the BUZZ Index to track general market performance. Licensor’s only relationship to the Licensee is the licensing of the Index which is determined and composed by Licensor without regard to Licensee or the Product(s). Licensor has no obligation to take the needs of the Licensee or the owners of the Product(s) into consideration in determining or composing the Index. Licensor shall not be liable to any person for any error in the Index nor shall it be under any obligation to advise any person of any error therein. BUZZ Holdings is not an investment advisor and the inclusion of a security in the BUZZ Index is not a recommendation by BUZZ Holdings to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor should it be considered investment advice.
An investment in VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT®) may be subject to risks which include, among others, investing in equity securities, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, financials, health care, industrials and information technology sectors, medium-capitalization companies, market, operational, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, passive management, fund shares trading, premium/discount risk and liquidity of fund shares, non-diversification and concentration risks, which may make these investments volatile in price or difficult to trade. Medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks.
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contains this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing.
