VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF’s management team is rated Average, but a solid investment process still helps this strategy retain its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's investment process inspires confidence and earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant underweight position in volatility exposure and an overweight in yield exposure compared with category peers. Low volatility exposure is attributed to stocks with a lower standard deviation of returns. And a high yield exposure is rooted in holding high dividend-paying or buyback stocks. The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

Eli Lilly

Johnson & Johnson

Merck

AbbVie

McKesson

CoreSite Realty

Pfizer

Bristol-Myers

Zoetis

Viatris

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. The main contributor to the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Noteworthy risk-adjusted performance also strengthens the process. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category average, which suggests that the process was successful over that period. Lastly, the process is limited by its parent firm's disappointing risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 2.6 stars. A lower star rating suggests that the firm has struggled to outperform on a risk-adjusted basis.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:  The investment seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, and the price and yield performance of the MVIS® US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index.  The fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities that comprise the fund's benchmark index. The index includes common stocks and depositary receipts of U.S. exchange-listed companies in the pharmaceutical industry. Such companies may include medium-capitalization companies and foreign companies that are listed on a U.S. exchange. It is non-diversified. 

 The portfolio has allocations in its top two sectors, healthcare and financial services, that are similar to the category. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are basic materials and technology; however, the allocations are similar to the category. The strategy owns 26 securities and is quite concentrated. Specifically, 59.9% of the strategy's assets are housed within the top 10 holdings, versus the category average of 38.7%. And finally, in terms of portfolio turnover, looking at year-over-year movements, 22% of the fund's holdings have changed, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Above Average

Process

VanEck’s team is valuable but does not stand out as one of the industry's best, warranting an Average People Pillar rating. There are two managers listed on the fund: Peter Liao, Griffin Driscoll. Together, they manage a total of 13 strategies, with a Silver asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating the potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

Average

People

VanEck’s ownership structure and specialization make it unique among industry peers. The firm’s founding family and namesake still have control, and its product lineup still reflects its legacy as a specialist in niche market segments. VanEck earns an Average Parent Pillar rating. 

Founded by John van Eck in 1955, the firm staked its claim in the industry by capitalizing on burgeoning markets. Starting with the opening of Western Europe to U.S.-based investors in the wake of the Marshall Plan, VanEck’s largest and most successful products provide exposure to areas of the market that are off the beaten path, such as hard assets, emerging-markets debt, and below-investment-grade-rated corporate debt.

Through its history, VanEck has taken an opportunistic approach to product development. For instance, since 2018, VanEck has launched strategies that provide exposures ranging from international REITs to companies involved in video game development. Regardless of where their reach takes them, however, VanEck builds a case that the strategy will be relevant over the long term and that its risks must be easy to understand. However, not all its products catch on, and the firm has shuttered several offerings in the last decade. 

VanEck remains a privately held firm, wholly owned by CEO Jan van Eck and his family. Although this enables the firm to focus on the long term and the firm offers some employees participation in profits, the firm hasn’t used equity as a recruiting and retention tool and introduces some key-person risk in the executive suite.

Parent

VanEck Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF

PPH tracks a market-cap-weighted index of 25 of the largest global pharmaceutical firms.

If you're interested in broad exposure to the Healthcare - Pharma segment of the equity market, look no further than the VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF (PPH), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 12/20/2011.

Should You Invest in the VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF (PPH)?

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VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF has had the strongest one-year performance of four major pharmaceutical ETF competitors due to its unique mix of Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson. Eli Lilly, PPH's top holding, saw a 28% increase in Q2 revenue from its Mounjaro injection, a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. Recent medical treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy are expected to drive $3.3 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively in revenue for Novo Nordisk in Q3 2023, PPH's second-largest holding.

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