This ETF wants to 'Make America Great Again'
President Donald Trump has inspired a new exchanged-traded fund (ETF) with a familiar ring to it. The Point Bridge GOP Stock Tracker (BATS:MAGA) trades under the ticker MAGA, a reference to Trump’s slogan “Make America Great Again,” and it began trading this week.
The ETF doesn’t necessarily track stocks that stand to benefit from the Trump administration’s agenda. Rather, MAGA includes S&P 500 companies whose political action committees or employees have donated to Republicans. Point Bridge Capital, the Fort Worth, Texas-based wealth manager that created the ETF, selected companies based on regulatory filings that detail political contributes.
“Money matters in politics,” Point Bridge Capital founder and CEO Hal Lambert told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney during a recent interview on “Varney & Co.” “The companies are giving millions and millions of dollars influencing elections. They’re now speaking out more than ever. So I think it’s important for investors to have the opportunity to have a difference on that and pick their investments based on companies that are supporting the political views that they want.”
MAGA’s top holdings are Boeing (NYSE:BA), a major defense contractor, and Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO), which makes over-the-counter pharmaceuticals.
Military suppliers are widely represented by the fund. MAGA also includes Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), the world’s largest defense contractor; Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), known for the Patriot and Tomahawk missiles; and Textron (NYSE:TXT), whose subsidiaries include Bell helicopters.
There are plenty of energy companies as well, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX). Oilfield services companies like Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) and U.S. shale producers are also in the mix.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is notable partly because two of its co-founders, Ken Langone and Bernie Marcus, are large donors to the GOP. In fact, Marcus was the second-largest contributor to Trump’s presidential campaign behind casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS), the company founded by Adelson, is not in the Trump-inspired ETF. However, Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN) is a MAGA holding. Wynn has been a Democratic donor in the past, but he supported his casino rival in the election and currently serves as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Another interesting addition to the MAGA fund, for different reasons, is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A). Buffett backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, but his company’s subsidiaries donated to GOP candidates during the past two presidential election years.
Two MAGA stocks that could benefit from Trump’s infrastructure aspirations and mining support are Deere (NYSE:DE) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), makers of construction equipment and other heavy machinery.
Most of the major banks are in the fund, including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).
Large tech firms such as Facebook (NYSE:FB) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are absent from the list. Lambert mentioned Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) as other large corporations that have donated to Democrats.
Point Bridge Capital plans to introduce more politically themed ETFs in the future.
MAGA is up about 1.7% since it started trading Sept. 8.