Should Janus Henderson Small Cap Growth Alpha ETF (JSML) Be on Your Investing Radar?

In This Article:

Launched on 02/23/2016, the Janus Henderson Small Cap Growth Alpha ETF (JSML) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Janus Henderson. It has amassed assets over $254.35 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Small Cap Growth

With more potential comes more risk, and small cap companies, with market capitalization below $2 billion, epitomizes this way of thinking.

Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. Compared to value stocks, growth stocks are a safer bet in a strong bull market, but don't perform as strongly in almost all other financial environments.

Costs

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.30%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.17%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Industrials sector--about 30% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Information Technology round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated. (CORT) accounts for about 4.21% of total assets, followed by Doximity Inc. Class A (DOCS) and Leonardo Drs Inc. (DRS).

The top 10 holdings account for about 26.48% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

JSML seeks to match the performance of the Janus Small Cap Growth Alpha Index before fees and expenses. The Janus Henderson Small Cap Growth Alpha Index selects small-sized capitalization stocks that are poised for smart growth by evaluating each company performance in three critical areas: growth, profitability, and capital efficiency.

The ETF has added roughly 14.19% so far this year and is up about 13.75% in the last one year (as of 12/25/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $55.56 and $73.60.