A Complete Review of the ARK ETFs

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ARK is an asset management company that specializes in innovative technologies with strong growth prospects. The firm states that its ETFs are focused on “disruptive innovation.” 

The ETFs are actively managed, meaning the management team decides how to invest the fund’s money vs passive ETFs that usually follow a market-weighted index. In this review, we will take a look at what sets ARK apart from other ETFs and take a look at their historical performance. 

Not Your Ordinary Fund Management Company

The investment style at ARK can be described as creative and unique. They invest in groundbreaking companies like CRISPR Therapeutics and in technology like blockchain.

ARK is forward-looking and intended for long-term investors that want to invest in the future. Their research team is always looking for the next big thing and industries with enormous growth potential. 

ARK Investment Management was founded in 2014 and has 12.34B total assets under management at the time of this writing.

ARK received the ETF Suite of the Year award from Fund Intelligence in 2019, and its ETFs continue to grow in popularity. 

Which ARK ETF Is Best?

The most popular and largest ETF is the ARK Innovation ETF ARKK. It’s shown incredible market performance, but the best performing ETF since inception is the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF.

Each fund has an inception date of 10/31/2014.

You can invest in more than one of the ARK ETFs but beware of potential overlap. Some of them contain the same holdings. 

To help you pick the best one for your investment strategy, let’s take a look a closer look at each fund.

ARKK Review

The ARK Innovation ETF ARRK, as mentioned, is the most popular and largest in the ARK family. The fund seeks to invest a minimum of 65% of assets in domestic and foreign securities related to the theme of “disruptive innovation.”

ARKK has produced a market return of 28.49% since its inception as of 7/31/2020. 

ARKK includes a mix of holdings found in its other ETFs. You get exposure to genomic, industrial, internet, and fintech. Its broader exposure makes it a good pick if you are looking to buy just one ARK ETF.

Here are its top 10 holdings as of 8/21/2020 (out of 48 total holdings).

1. Tesla
2. Invitae 
3. Square 
4. CRISPR Therapeutics
5. Roku
6. Proto Labs
7. 2U 
8. Illumina
9. Zillow Group
10. Editas Medicine

ARKK has an expense ratio of 0.75%

ARKQ Review

ARKQ is the Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF. It is an excellent choice for those looking to get robotics exposure. The fund seeks to invest a minimum of 80% of assets in both domestic & foreign securities that are correlated with autonomous technology and robotics. 

The ETF has produced a total market return of 19.35% since its inception as of 7/31/2020. 

ARKQ is focused on autonomous tech, energy, robotics, 3D printing, transportation, and even space exploration. The future of robotics is sure to see a lot of growth over the next century. 

Here are its top 10 holdings as of 8/21/2020 (out of 39 total holdings).

1. Tesla
2. 2U
3. Xilinx
4. Materialise
5. Proto Labs
6. Alphabet
7. Stratasys
8. JD.com
9. Trimble 
10. Deere & Co

ARKQ has an expense ratio of 0.75%

ARKW Review

ARKW is the Next Generation Internet ETF. What is the next generation internet? ARK states the ETFs focus is on cloud computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, blockchain, P2P, and social platforms. 

ARKW has shown stellar performance so far. The fund has had a total market return of 35.44% since its inception as of 7/31/2020.

The fund seeks to invest a minimum of 80% of assets in both domestic & foreign securities that relate to the internet of things. 

Here are its top 10 holdings as of 8/21/2020 (out of 49 total holdings).

1. Tesla
2. Square
3. Roku
4. Sea LTD
5. 2U
6. HUYA
7. Zillow Group
8. Spotify
9. Facebook
10. Xilinx

Its 18^th holding is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and is the only ETF that has indirect exposure to Bitcoin.

ARKW has a slightly higher expense ratio of 0.76%

ARKG Review

ARKG is the Genomic Revolution ETF. If you are looking to gain exposure to futuristic healthcare and biotech, this fund may be the one for you. The ETF seeks to have a min of 80% of assets invested in foreign and domestic securities that relate to innovative healthcare, gene editing, agricultural biology, and therapeutics. 

ARKG has produced a total market return of 19.94% since its inception as of 7/31/2020. The YTD performance of ARKG has the other ETFs beat at 87.86% as of 8/21/2020.

Here are its top 10 holdings as of 8/21/2020 (out of 42 total holdings).

1. Invitae
2. CRISPR Therapeutics
3. Arcturus Therapeutics
4. Compugen
5. Illumina
6. Twist Bioscience
7. Pacific Biosciences
8. Editas Medicine
9. Personalis
10. Seres Therapeutics

ARKG has an expense ratio of 0.75%

ARKF Review

The ARK Fintech Innovation ETF ARKF focuses on revolutionary financial companies and technology. The fund keeps a minimum of 80% of assets in domestic and foreign securities that engage in some kind of fintech operation. 

The ETF description lists blockchain, funding platforms, digital wallets, peer-to-peer lending, and risk transformation as the fund’s primary focus. 

ARKF is the best historical performing ARK ETF so far, with a 48.65% total market return since inception as of 07/31/2020.

Here are its top 10 holdings as of 8/21/2020 (out of 45 total holdings).

1. Square
2. Mercadolibre
3. Tencent
4. Apple
5. Zillow
6. Intercontinental Exchange
7. Sea LTD
8. LendingTree
9. Pinterest
10. Meituan Dianping

ARKF has an expense ratio of 0.75%

Are the ARK ETFs a Good Investment?

The ARK ETFs offer a unique and innovative way to bet on the future. The companies picked by ARK are almost all aggressive growth companies. Aggressive growth investing comes with large swings in price and volatility. 

ARK is evidently very bullish on Tesla as it is the number 1 holding in 3 of its funds. If you already have exposure to Tesla or do not want to invest in them, look at ARKG and ARKF instead.

The historical performance of the ARK ETFs has proven that they have been a good investment so far. Unfortunately, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. 

Remember, ARK ETFs are actively managed, and because of this, they come with higher expense ratios. Be sure to visit their website for the most up to date information.

The ARK Invest team has proven they’re serious about what they do and have caught the attention of many investors.

Keep in mind six years is still a very short amount of time in the investment world. Time will tell how their picks turn out and if they can live up to their image.