Lately, the growth in popularity of exchange-traded funds has given investors ever more narrow slices of niche sectors of the market. But one set of new ETFs is going back to basics by giving investors something that's truly valuable: more diversification from a broader chunk of a huge market. By doing so, these ETFs will give you access to stocks that many investors typically overlooked until now.
Going beyond the tech giants
If you're looking to invest in big technology stocks, the easy one-stop shop for more than a decade has been the PowerShares QQQ ETF, which tracks the popular Nasdaq 100 Index
But two new ETFs released by Global X Funds aim to give investors a broader look at the Nasdaq. The Global X Nasdaq 500 ETF will track the broad Nasdaq 500 index, which goes beyond the narrower Nasdaq 100 to include 400 more stocks. The Global X Nasdaq 400 Mid Cap will explicitly focus only on those 400 lesser-followed Nasdaq stocks.
The result is a much less tech-heavy portfolio, especially in the case of the mid-cap ETF. Global X Nasdaq 400 will only have a 37% allocation to technology, with health-care and consumer stocks each making up about 20% of the portfolio. And while the ETFs will still have a woefully small allocation to sectors like energy and materials, those sectors will be somewhat better represented.
What are the hidden Nasdaq stocks?
Looking at the stocks that these ETFs will include that the Nasdaq 100 ETF doesn't reveals some interesting choices. Pharmasset
Moreover, even though some of these smaller companies are still in technology, they're lesser-known and typically have interesting niches that could eventually attract takeover bids from larger rivals. For instance, Avago Technologies
One of the most interesting things about the Nasdaq indexes is that all of them exclude financial stocks. That's a serious omission, although it's also been a big benefit in recent years as financials have had terrible performance.
Worth a look
Many ETF investors may dismiss the new Global X Nasdaq ETFs as unnecessary. After all, you can already get even broader exposure from total-market ETFs, and putting so much weight on what exchange a stock happens to trade on is admittedly arbitrary.
From a broader perspective, though, the good news is that at least in this instance, Global X is bucking the trend toward ever-narrower ETFs to take a stab at adding something of real value for ETF investors. Especially with the mid-cap Nasdaq ETF, the ETF provider is filling a void that many investors ignore -- at their peril. For investors who follow the Nasdaq but aren't wedded solely to technology stocks, these ETFs will be a welcome addition to your ETF investing toolbox.
Smart ETF investors need to look beyond the Nasdaq for complete diversification, though. In The Motley Fool's latest free special report on ETFs, you'll get three great ideas that could boost your portfolio's performance. Take a look today while it's still available.