The accompanying table presents a quarterly update of my Highly Defensive PerformIdex, with an average beta of 0.72 and a market cap-weighted total return of 7.9% over the past year, outpacing the overall market and ETF peer group -- except for Vanguard Consumer Staples (VDC) ETF with an 8% total return over this period. Two companies received buyout offers in the past three months, including Genentech (DNA) and Anheuser-Busch (BUD), which were replaced by Amgen (AMGN) and Brown-Forman (BF-B), respectively.
As previously, the market cap-weighted index consists of 35 US and Canadian-based companies over $5 billion market caps (USD) from the following industry groups: (A) Grocery Stores (2); (B) Consumer Staples (11); (C) Health Benefit Providers (3); (D) Consumer Healthcare Products (3); (E) Utilities (3); (F) Telecom Services (2); (G) Commodities (4); (H) At-Home Entertainment (3); (I) Aerospace & Defense (2); and (J) Mass Merchants (2). As a new ETF idea, the Highly Defensive PerformIdex would provide investors with a systematic investment vehicle of leading companies from defensive industry groups beyond current offerings focused on just consumer staples or high-dividend stocks.
$71.43 (08/10/08)
