Measuring Corporate ‘Dark Matter’ With an ETF

When it comes to evaluating companies for different exchange-traded fund strategies, some things can be easily measured—such as dividends and price-to-earnings ratios. Others are harder to gauge. This so-called dark matter of the stock market universe includes thinks like a company's brand power, human capital and intellectual property. The latter is something called “intangible value.” And now there’s an ETF for that, too. On this episode, Joel and Eric speak with Kai Wu, founder and chief investment officer of Sparkline Capital, the issuer behind the Sparkline Intangible Value ETF (or ITAN), as well as Chis Cain, a quant analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. Topics discussed include defining intangible value, how it explains the relentless returns of the Super 7 stocks and how much of it is being captures by popular ETFs.

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