Triumph of Internet Stocks
In sizing up the performance of the pools, a lengthy timespan provides a wealth of data for a thorough survey. On the other hand, the turnout in recent years is likely to be a better guide to the prospects going forward than the results of the distant past. Given this backdrop, a window of three years seems like a fitting compromise between the contrasting concerns of ample data versus high relevance.
Based on the capital gains over the course of three years, the best index funds in the technology patch go by the ticker symbols of FDN, PNQI and SOXX. Among these vehicles, the first two entries outpaced by a huge margin the chief benchmark of the stock market in the form of SPY. By contrast, SOXX turned in a lackluster showing.
From a different angle, a graphic display of the price history can provide an intuitive grasp of the entrants in the race. The mindful investor has to consider the volatility of the vehicles during the appraisal window as well as the payoff over the entire stretch.
In order to obtain a balanced view of performance, the window of evaluation should cover a spell in which the market has witnessed a boom as well as a bust. For this purpose, a choice timespan is a window of 5 years ending in the late summer of 2014. This interval straddles the crash of the bourse in 2011 as well as the upswell and bounceback of the market that lie on either side of the smashup.
From the longer perspective of half a decade, the standard bearer in the world of index funds – namely, SPY – turned in a capital gain of 92.68%. Another touchstone lay in XLK, the primo within the technology sector, which chalked up a payoff of 97.78%.
Meanwhile the outturn was roughly similar for SOXX, whose return came out to 97.69%. In these ways, the semiconductor fund as well as the technology benchmark managed to edge out SPY by a small margin.
By contrast, FDN bagged a capital gain of nearly 192% over the entire stretch of half a decade. Better yet, PNQI won the derby by snagging a windfall of some 226% over the same period.
NOTE: The full report is a document in PDF form under the title of “Top 3 Index Funds for Technology”. The publication may be viewed or downloaded from the Library at MintKit Core.
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