DTAN
International Intangible Value ETF
Value Investing for the Modern Era
“The four largest companies today by market value do not need any net tangible assets. They are not like AT&T, GM, or Exxon Mobil, requiring lots of capital to produce earnings. We have become an asset-light economy.”
– Warren Buffett
🌍 Investment Focus
DTAN provides exposure to non-U.S. developed market stocks that appear undervalued relative to an expanded definition of intrinsic value that includes not only traditional tangible assets but also often-overlooked intangible assets.
✨ The Intangible Economy
Value investing is a time-honored framework for buying companies below intrinsic value. However, as the economy shifts from industrial to information-based, intrinsic value is increasingly becoming intangible rather than tangible. DTAN brings value investing to the modern era by including four pillars of intangible value.
Intellectual
Property
Brand
Equity
Human
Capital
Network
Effects
🔭 Quantifying Dark Matter
Intangible value is challenging to quantify, as it is largely omitted from financial statements. The most relevant data tend to be large, noisy, and unstructured (e.g., patents, social media, job postings, earnings calls). Sparkline uses state-of-the-art natural language processing to convert these data into quantitative measures of intangible value for each firm.
⚖️ Why Choose DTAN?
DTAN caters to investors seeking to overcome the “international dilemma”: diversifying into cheaper geographies often means shifting toward low-growth, old-economy firms. DTAN aims for the “best of both worlds,” combining the benefits of international investing with exposure to the burgeoning intangible economy.
🔖 NAV and Market Price
NAV is the sum of all assets less any liabilities, divided by the number of shares outstanding.
📋 Fund Details
📚 Fund Documents
🪄 Intangible Factor Exposure
>200% exposure to intangible factors (vs. MSCI EAFE)
Source: S&P, USPTO, LinkedIn, Sparkline. All calculations are weighted averages with weights equal to position size. R&D, S&M, and patents are calculated over a trailing 12-month window. The MSCI EAFE Index is a popular index of large- and mid-cap stocks in developed markets outside of the U.S. and Canada. Characteristics refer to the underlying stocks and do not predict the performance of the fund. As of 9/30/2024.
R&D / Price is research and development expenditures divided by market cap. S&M / Price is sales and marketing expenditures divided by market cap. Patents / Price is the number of patent grants divided by market cap. PhDs / Price is the estimated number of PhD employees divided by market cap. *Patents and PhDs are scaled by billions (e.g., # patents per $1 billion market cap).
The red metrics are Sparkline’s proprietary intangible value scores, which are constructed from the weighted average of metrics such as those shown in blue (after being normalized via Z-Score). Disruptive companies are defined using a proprietary classification based on each firm’s exposure to disruptive technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence, cloud computing).
📊 Historical Performance
🗓️ Month-End Performance
🕰️ Quarter-End Performance
The performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.
Market price returns are based upon the closing composite market price and do not represent the returns you would receive if you traded shares at other times. Returns are average annualized total returns, except those for periods of less than one year, which are cumulative. YTD is year-to-date.
🏢 Fund Holdings
Fund holdings and allocations are subject to change at any time and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
🧮 Balance Sheet Decomposition
Stocks are assigned to a single “primary” pillar based on Sparkline’s proprietary intangible value scores (i.e., intellectual property, brand equity, human capital, network effects, tangible). Boxes are proportional to position size. Positions are grouped by primary pillar to illustrate aggregate exposure to each pillar of value. As of 9/30/2024.
🧺 Historical Premium / Discount
📦 Fund Distributions
Investors should carefully consider the funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing. This and other important information is contained in the prospectus and summary prospectus, which may be obtained by following the links above. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Investments involve risk and principal loss is possible. There can be no assurance that the fund will achieve its investment objective. The fund invests in equity securities, which may fall in value in adverse economic and market conditions. The fund invests in non-U.S. securities, which involve risks that may not be present with investments in U.S. securities. For example, investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations or to political or economic instability. The fund expects to have exposure to the information technology, healthcare, industrials, and consumer discretionary sectors, which face unique competitive, technological, demand, and regulatory risks. The fund may invest in mid- and small-cap companies, which may have limited liquidity and greater volatility. The fund is actively managed and its success will depend on the skills of the advisor and subadvisor, which has a limited operating history. The fund utilizes quantitative methods, machine learning and alternative data, which are subject to data quality, model, algorithm, regulatory, and technological risks. The fund employs a value investing strategy, which may fail if stocks do not reach the subadvisor’s assessment of fair value. Please see the prospectus for more details of these and other risks.
Unlike mutual funds, ETFs may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. ETF shares may only be redeemed at NAV by authorized participants in large creation units. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for shares will exist. The trading of shares may incur brokerage commissions.
This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. We make no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this report, including third-party data sources. The views expressed are as of the publication date and subject to change at any time. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication without express written permission. References to securities or other funds should not to be interpreted as an offer or recommendation of these securities.
The fund is distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC. The fund’s investment advisor is Empowered Funds, LLC, which is doing business as ETF Architect. The fund’s investment subadvisor is Sparkline Capital LP.