AXS Knowledge Leaders ETF
$63.26−0.28 (−0.45%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.78%
- Fund size
- $42M
- 1Y return
- +27.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.87%
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $62.46
- 52W range
The ETF.net KNO Grade
Score 36 of 100 sits in the D band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.FScore 13Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.CScore 50Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 87Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.FScore 10Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 60Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 56Category rank
Our read on KNO
DAccounting rules force companies to expense R&D and brand-building. KNO's screen treats that spend as investment, redraws the books, and buys the developed-market innovators that look best on the rewritten numbers.
The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equities of highly innovative knowledge-leader companies. It uses a proprietary quantitative screen emphasizing intangible-adjusted innovation intensity, financial strength, profitability, research and development, earnings growth, and operating cash flow.
Why people hold it
- The whole product is one idea: count R&D, brand and employee training as capital, then screen on innovation intensity, profitability, cash flow and financial strength.axsinvestments.com
- Global by design. Developed-market names across North America, Europe and Asia, measured against an equal-weighted MSCI World index rather than a cap-weighted one.
- Active, but rules-driven. A proprietary quantitative screen picks the portfolio, and the strategy dates to 2007, reaching AXS in 2024 after a rebrand from KLDW.prnewswire.com
Worth knowing
- You pay up for the screen: 0.78% a year against a 0.69% median for global active peers, and well above broad options like GSWO (0.15%) or DFAW (0.24%).
- A small, thinly traded fund. Spreads can run wider than a mainstream global ETF's, which shows up most on larger orders.
- Income is not the job here. The mandate is long-term capital appreciation, and distributions land only once or twice a year.
KNO Holdings
- Stocks
- —
- 36%
- MU
Sectors
- Industrials31.2%
- Technology27.4%
- Health Care16.5%
- Consumer Discr.8.7%
- Cons. Staples5.2%
- Materials5.0%
- Communication3.1%
- Financials2.9%
Geography
- United States51.93%
- Switzerland15.64%
- Japan7.24%
- France6.79%
- Germany5.07%
- Ireland2.70%
- Netherlands2.67%
- Sweden2.22%
- 5.74%
Developed 97% · Emerging 3%
KNO Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | KNO |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +24.0% |
| 1 month | −2.0% |
| 3 months | −2.3% |
| 1 year | +27.2% |
| 3 years | +19.4% |
| 5 years | +6.8% |
| 10 years | +9.9% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | KNO |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +24.0% | |
| 2025 | +19.8% | |
| 2024 | +5.1% | |
| 2023 | +17.5% | |
| 2022 | −23.2% | |
| 2021 | +13.6% | |
| 2020 | +16.8% |
KNO in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on KNO yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
KNO Dividends
- 0.87%
- $0.55
- $0.55 per share
- Annual
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 23, 2025 | Dec 26, 2025 | $0.55 |
| Dec 23, 2024 | Dec 27, 2024 | $0.68 |
| Dec 20, 2023 | Dec 26, 2023 | $0.56 |
| Dec 21, 2022 | Dec 27, 2022 | $0.66 |
| Dec 22, 2021 | Dec 29, 2021 | $0.23 |
| Dec 23, 2020 | Dec 30, 2020 | $0.26 |
| Dec 23, 2019 | Dec 31, 2019 | $0.36 |
| Dec 24, 2018 | Dec 31, 2018 | $0.29 |
| Dec 26, 2017 | Dec 29, 2017 | $0.23 |
| Dec 27, 2016 | Dec 30, 2016 | $0.17 |
| Dec 16, 2015 | Dec 28, 2015 | $0.06 |
KNO Risk
- 15.3%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.87
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −33.6%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.09
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
KNO Cost
- The middle half of Disruptive Innovation funds
- Median 0.65%
26 of the 31 Disruptive Innovation funds charge less.