Rushed to market just 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pacer BioThreat Strategy ETF (VIRS) takes a unique approach to picking potential pandemic winners. The LifeSci BioThreat Strategy Index underlying VIRS selects holdings based on seven different criteria - everything from potential vaccine makers to companies powering the transition to a work-from-home economy. Pacer ETFs President Sean O’Hara joins Let's Talk ETFs to explain why his firm's new ETF is designed to protect investor portfolios from both the current - and future - pandemics.
Show Notes

3:00 - Was VIRS planned in advance, or rushed to market in response to COVID-19?

4:30 - Have you had to make adjustments to the fund's composition in response to ongoing developments?

7:00 - What are other elements of the index aside from the medical side of the pandemic (i.e. vaccines and treatment)?

13:15 - How "pure play" does a company have to be to be included in the index?

17:30 - How does VIRS' weighting methodology work?

24:30 - How can you be certain that the index will be able to profit from vaccines given the large number of companies developing them and the relatively small number of companies in the index?

Composition of VIRS by sectors and themes:

28:00 - Therapeutic drug companies

29:00 - Biological warfare plays

33:00 - What's the underlying strategy of Pacer's Alternator ETF series? (ALTL) (PALC) (PAMC)

42:30 - Potential tax implications of the Alternator funds


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