BMO launches first Canadian ETF for new media and tech

The sector ETF includes holdings in FANG stocks and other major media firms

BMO launches first Canadian ETF for new media and tech

BMO Asset Management has introduced Canada’s first ETF that capitalizes on technology innovation and new media trends in communication services.

The BMO Global Communications Index ETF (TSX: COMM) offers access to companies that lead in the communications equipment, gaming software, media and publishing services, telecommunications, and web-based data sectors.

The fund is designed to replicate, to a reasonable extent and net of expenses, the performance of the Solactive Media and Communications Index. With rebalancing to be done semi-annually, the fund’s holdings include shares in Apple Inc., Netflix Inc., Facebook Inc., Alphabet Inc. (Google), The Walt Disney Company, and Time Warner Inc.

Facebook, Alphabet, Netflix, and Disney are all expected to be re-classified to a new “communications” category in the stock market’s Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) in September. Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley called the realignment “unprecedented,” noting that the prospective new category contains stocks that are “more idiosyncratic relative to standard equity risk factors.”

 “This ETF provides investors with a unique balance of global companies that are reshaping and driving the market through communications, technology and new media," said Kevin Gopaul, head of BMO Global Asset Management Canada.

The fund comes with a management expense ratio of 0.4%, as well as a maximum annual management fee of 0.35%.

 

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