ARK funds dominated the active ETF monthly performance leaderboard for August, with ARK Genomic Revolution UCITS ETF returning 27.0% over the month, taking its rolling one year return to 98.0%. This monthly gain exceeded the 22.4% return from ARK Innovation UCITS ETF and the 9.8% rise in ARK Artificial Intelligence & Robotics UCITS ETF.
Managed by Cathie Wood, the genomics ETF invests in companies developing or benefiting from technologies including genomic sequencing, gene therapies and molecular medicine. The Irish-domiciled fund launched in April 2024 and charges a total expense ratio of 0.75%.
The separate US-listed ARK Genomic Revolution ETF also recorded substantial gains, returning 21.6% over one month and 90.4% over one year. However, its longer record provides a sobering counterpoint. The US fund’s five-year annualised return remained negative at -10.9%, equivalent to a cumulative loss of approximately 43.7%. The newer UCITS fund does not yet have a comparable five-year record.
Our view
David Batchelor, senior analyst at QuotedData, said: “ARK’s genomics fund performance illustrates the attraction of specialist active ETFs: exposure to a focused investment theme can produce exceptional gains. But the US fund’s longer record shows why those gains need to be viewed alongside the losses that preceded them. A near-doubling over one year can coexist with a substantial loss over five. Investors who bought at different points can therefore have very different experiences of the same strategy, even when its latest performance looks impressive.
The investment case ultimately rests on whether the companies in the portfolio can turn scientific advances into commercial success – and whether their share prices already anticipate that success. A promising technology does not automatically make a company an attractive investment at any valuation”.
