ACVF - DEMZ: Can This Politically Charged ETF Keep Beating The S&P 500?
2025-05-06 21:39:01 ET
Summary
- DEMZ holds S&P 500 companies that contribute roughly 75% or more to Democratic causes and candidates. Its expense ratio is 0.45% and the ETF has $41M in assets under management.
- Its investment objective is to mirror the risk and return characteristics of the S&P 500 Index. So far, it has accomplished that goal, but mainly due to favorable sector allocations.
- I'm not convinced evaluating political contributions is a good way to categorize companies. For example, MSFT and NVDA are top holdings in both DEMZ and the American Conservative Values ETF.
- My fundamental analysis revealed solid growth, quality, and sentiment statistics, but its 24.05x forward P/E represents a 12% premium to SPY. Along with its high ER, I expect modest underperformance.
- I've assigned a neutral "hold" rating to DEMZ, though my hope is that readers will ignore high-fee thematic ETFs on both sides of the political aisle.