The Barron’s 400SM ETF, based on the Barron’s 400 Index, has launched under the ALPS ETF Trust. The index is a rules-based index intended to give investors a means of tracking the overall performance of a collection of companies with strong fundamentals based on a methodology, jointly developed by Barron’s and MarketGrader.com.
“All index components are selected on the basis of their fundamental strength,” says Carlos Diez, president of MarketGrader.com. “The Barron’s 400 Index is built from the ‘bottom-up’ using a methodology that is quite different from most traditional market benchmarks.”
The underlying index features a collection of the top 400 stocks in the MarketGrader US equity coverage universe based on the strength of their fundamentals in growth, value, profitability and cash flow. Potential components are also screened for criteria including minimum market capitalization and liquidity. The stocks selected for inclusion in the index are equally weighted.
