Behold the granny shot: an underhanded technique that can help basketball players improve their free-throw percentages, while also managing to look like absolute dorks.
Generally, NBA players refuse to employ the granny shot, no matter how bad their percentages may be. Of course, asset managers worry about image differently. Fundstrat CIO and lead portfolio manager Tom Lee embraces the idea of the granny shot, so much so that his line of ETFs bears the name. This week, the company announced that two new exchange-traded funds would soon appear on NYSE Arca: the Fundstrat Granny Shots US Small- & Mid-Cap ETF (GRNJ) and Granny Shots US Large Cap & Income ETF (GRNI). Those add to the firm's single ETF, the Fundstrat Granny Shots US Large Cap ETF (GRNY), which launched about a year ago. Given the success of the first Granny Shots ETF and the characteristics of the forthcoming strategies, the firm may see significant assets roll in, said Dave Nadig, president and director of research at ETF.com.
It's "hard to bet against Tom Lee, and he's clearly identified two different aspects that people want right now: getting away from megacaps and generating income."
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Maybe There's Something to It
So far this year, GRNY has returned about 30%, nearly double that of the S&P 500. The fund has clearly caught on with investors, having reached $3 billion in assets under management. The "granny shot" investment philosophy is using research to pick stocks fitting at least two of seven themes that the company has identified as market drivers (those includes millennials, AI, cybersecurity and others) and weighting them equally in the portfolio, ensuring it isn't overly concentrated on a single one. Currently, GRNY includes 39 names but can have more or fewer. Communication is part of the firm's strategy, and it has produced weekly commentaries and videos for investors.
A look at the two new ETFs: