Is an Israeli Technology Company ETF For You?

If you have heard it once, you have heard it dozens of times: There is an ETF strategy for just about everything. Now there is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) strategy that is designed to track an index of technology companies that are based in Israel.  The BlueStar Indexes and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange have launched whet they are calling the “Start-up Nation ETF, The BlueStar TA-BIGTech Israel Technology ETF (NASDAQ: ITEQ) said that this is the first such ETF that is made to track Israeli tech stocks worldwide.

The ITEQ is holds shares of public Israeli and Israel-linked global technology stocks, based off of the TASE-BlueStar Israel Global Technology Index, This is said to be the first and only benchmark following a whole range of major Israeli tech companies. The companies do not just have to be NYSE or NASDAQ listed. They can be listed on the TASE, NASDAQ, NYSE, London Stock Exchange and the Singapore Exchange.

Israel is known as a leader and key player in the high tech industry, and it is true that many of the companies there are either overlooked or simply not known by the outside world if they have not directly dealt with them. Now we just have to see if the volume increases enough to make this ETF a success.

The ETF launch release said:

By tracking the TA-BIGITech™ index, ITEQ™ provides investors access to Israeli companies regardless of which stock exchange a company’s shares are listed. The benchmark for ITEQ™ includes leading Israeli global technology companies such as Amdocs (Ticker: DOX), Checkpoint Software (Ticker: CHKP), Mobileye (Ticker: MBLY), Elbit Systems (Ticker: ESLT) and Verint Systems (Ticker: VRNT).

The TA-BIGITech™ index was launched in 2013 with history from 2004 onward, and in 2015, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange partnered in the dissemination of the index, as part of TASE’s globalization efforts. It has a float-adjusted market capitalization of $55 billion, compared to just $22 billion for TASE’s TA-TechElite benchmark.

The benchmark is currently comprised of 65 stocks of Israeli high tech companies from the following industries: cyber-security, IT, biotechnology, renewable energy, defense technology, sustainable agriculture including Amdocs, Mobileye, Checkpoint, Verint Systems, Elbit Systems, Stratays, Cyberark, DSP Group, among many others.

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