Tech has had a great run over the last year as the large tech companies were perfectly positioned for the work-from-home trend. Whether it was more online shopping (Amazon), online meetings (Zoom), or buying digital content (Apple and Netflix), the sector advanced a decade or more in a single year.
The Nasdaq (which stands for ~ National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is the tech-heavy index investors look to when tech is flying. And the Nasdaq-100 is their top index of the largest 100 stocks.
However, while everybody assumes the Nasdaq-100 is all about tech stocks, that’s not entirely the case. Pure information technology (IT) stocks make up 48% of the Nasdaq-100. This is still a lot compared to the S&P 500, where IT stocks account for 27% and MSCI Developed World’s 21% IT stock allocation.
Back to the Nasdaq-100, the communications sector makes up another 19% while consumer discretionary is at 18%. This consumer sector inclusion means the index includes Amazon. Amazon is usually excluded from IT indices as it’s not classified as an IT stock but (in my view correctly so) as a consumer stock.
Importantly, the Nasdaq-100 index excludes financials. This does make for a significant difference to the other large-cap indices such as the S&P 500 or the MSCI World, which have financials at around 10% and 14% respectively.
The Nasdaq-100 Top 10 holdings are:
- Apple 10.97%
- Microsoft 9.51%
- Amazon 8.34% (consumer sector)
- Tesla 4.24% (automotive sector)
- Facebook 3.79%
- Alphabet C 3.63% (no voting shares)
- Alphabet A 3.32% (voting shares)
- Nvidia 2.69%
- Paypal 2.32% (business services, hence they sneak in even though they focus on financial services)
- Intel 2.12%
Satrix Nasdaq ETF (JSE code: STXNDQ)
The Satrix Nasdaq ETF is listed on the JSE and allows you access to the Nasdaq 100 companies. Other tech-focused ETFs on the JSE include the Sygnia iTrix 4th Industrial Revolution and the 1nvest S&P 500 IT, which is the only 100% tech-focused ETF on the JSE. Personally, the 1invest would be my pick if you’re looking for pure tech. However, the Nasdaq-100 does offer a great mix of tech concentration with a tail of other sectors included.
| ETF Name: | Satrix Nasdaq 100 Feeder ETF |
| ETF Code: | STXNDQ |
| ETF Issuer: | Satrix |
| Issue date: | 10 April 2018 |
| Total investment cost: | 0.48% |
| ETF Benchmark: | Nasdaq 100 |
| Tax-free: | Allowed |
| Market cap: | R2.16billion |
| Dividend yield: | Re-invested |
| Performance 1 year: | +13.9% |
| Performance 3 year: | +104.5% |
| Performance since launch: | +139.3% |
ETF blog
At Just One Lap, we are big fans of passive investment using ETFs. In this weekly blog, we discuss ETFs on the local market and the factors you need to consider when choosing an ETF. If you have wondered how one ETF differs from another, this is where you can find out. We explain which index each ETF tracks, what type of portfolio could benefit from holding each ETF, and how the costs will affect your bottom line.
