A.I. is still the most significant and disruptive technology driving the markets, as speculation over its true potential value has yet to be quantified. With all of the Magnificent 7 stocks having some kind of stake in AI, it’s easy to see how ubiquitous the sector will be for the rest of the industrialized world. The A.I. market is on track to reach $434 billion this year, and north of $2.5 trillion within the next 5 years.
At present, A.I. is kind of a wild west environment, especially among many new companies, some of which show amazing promise, but are still in the venture stage. ETFs that focus exclusively on the A.I. sectors are likewise very speculative, and may soar or crash, depending on which stocks they select.
The Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (NASDAQ: AIQ | AIQ Price Prediction) has received tremendous interest in the past year, with $3.8 billion in net inflows. However, although it may be one of the largest, is it necessarily the best? How does it compare to rivals such as iShares Future AI & Technology ETF (NYSE: ARTY) or Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (NASDAQ: BOTZ)?
Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF
AIQ’s subcategory focus is on technology hardware and software.
Designed to track the Indxx Artificial Intelligence & Big Data Index for its benchmark, AIQ has the largest AUM warchest of the three ETFs listed above. Launched on 5-11-2018, AIQ owns 84 stocks in numerous subcategories related to A.I., such as software, semiconductors, communications services, and others. At the time of this writing, AIQ’s particulars include:
|
Net Assets |
$7.22 billion |
52-week range |
$35.99-$55.16 |
|
Yield |
0.20% |
Expense Ratio |
0.68% |
|
YTD Return |
8.42% |
1-Year Return |
52.63% |
|
Avg. Daily Volume |
1.97 million shares |
3-Year Return |
23.69% |
|
NAV |
$54.97 |
5-Year Return |
10.54% |
Top 10 holdings:
- Sy Hynix Inc. – 4.63%
- Samsung Electronics – 4.12%
- AMD – 3.96%
- Broadcom, Inc. – 3.75%
- Intel Corp. – 3.67%
- Micron Technology, Inc. – 3.61%
- Taiwan Semiconductor – 3.55%
- Cisco Systems – 3.46%
- Nvidia Corp., – 3.25%
- Amazon.com Corp. – 3.25%
iShares Future AI & Technology ETF
Backed by multi-trillion asset class manager BlackRock, ARTY posted the largest gains of the 3 A.I. ETFs discussewd here.
ARTY is an ETF that uses the Morningstar Global Artificial Intelligence Select Index as its benchmark. Like AIQ, ARTY also holds A.I. stocks from around the globe. Although it is considerably smaller, and a single year is not indicative of overall performance, ARTY does boast a superior 1-year return of +94.36% vs. AIQ’s +52.63%. It holds 50 different stocks and its inception date is June 26, 2018.
|
Net Assets |
$2.08 billion |
52-week range |
$31.38-$62.20 |
|
Yield |
0.00% |
Expense Ratio |
0.47% |
|
YTD Return |
28.85% |
1-Year Return |
94.36% |
|
Avg. Daily Volume |
622,606 shares |
3-Year Return |
14.66% |
|
NAV |
$61.90 |
5-Year Return |
2.49% |
Top 10 holdings:
- Marvell Technology – 6.29%
- AMD – 6.10%
- Coreweave Inc. (Class A) – 5.24%
- Micron Technology, Inc.- 4.54%
- Broadcom Inc. – 4.39%
- Taiwan Semiconductor – 4.39%
- Nvidia Corp. – 4.20%
- Oracle Corp. – 4.06%
- Naver Corp. – 3.50%
- Global Unichip Corp. – 3.17%
Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF
Unlike AIQ or ARTY, BOTZ has a particular emphasis on A.I. as it relates to robotics.
With an inception date of September 12, 2016 and holding 62 different stocks in its $2.9 billion portfolio, BOTZ differs from its AIQ cousin with a greater focus on robotics. Ironically, Tesla, whose Optimus robots are among the highest profile humanoid-designed robots (as opposed to mobile service bots, industrial arms, or other types of robots), is not in the BOTZ top 10 largest holdings list. BOTZ tracks the Indxx Global Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index as its benchmark.
|
Net Assets |
$2.94 billion |
52-week range |
$27.97-$39.78 |
|
Yield |
0.73% |
Expense Ratio |
0.68% |
|
YTD Return |
3.12% |
1-Year Return |
33.62% |
|
Avg. Daily Volume |
900,930 shares |
3-Year Return |
9.11% |
|
NAV |
$37.00 |
5-Year Return |
0.03% |
Top 10 holdings:
- ABB Ltd. – 9.03%
- Nvidia Corp. – 8.82%
- Keyence Corp. – 7.90%
- Fanuc Corp. – 7.67%
- Intuitive Surgical Inc. – 7.54%
- SMC Corp. – 4.41%
- Shenzhen Innovance Technology – 4.04%
- Daifuku Co. Ltd. – 3.32%
- Horizon Robotics Inc. – 2.62%
- Robotechnik Intelligent – 2.30%
Shootout Comparison and What Investors May Want to Focus On
Among the 3 A.I. ETFs, each has different strengths that might appeal to investors whne compared head-to-head.
From a pure 1-year performance perspective, ARTY’s +94% gain dwarfs both AIQ’s +52% and BOTZ’s +33%. However, there are some other differences that investors might wish to consider:
Sector Focus: AIQ’s emphasis is a mix of technology goliaths and software companies. BOTZ has a stronger emphasis on robotics and automation, with particular emphasis on industrial and healthcare (i.e., surgical) applications. ARTY is a middle-ground blend that offers exposure to the sector without any subcategory concentration.
Expense Ratios: As one might expect ARTY, which is issued by BlackRock’s iShares department, has the benefit of BlackRock’s deep pockets behind it, and charges measurably lower expense ratios than Global X, whose ETFs cost 21 basis points more.
Liquidity: With more AUM than both ARTY and BOTZ put together, AIQ definitely is the largest of the three A.I. ETFs under consideration here. From a liquidity perspective, its nearly 2 million daily shares is easily more liquid than both ARTY and BOTZ put together.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks