CUT vs FTAG

CUTDInvesco MSCI Global Timber ETF

FTAGCFirst Trust Indxx Global Agriculture ETF

In short

CUT The first timber ETF to list in the US, running since 2007. It owns the forest and the mill: timberland owners plus the companies that turn logs into lumber, paper and packaging, across developed and emerging markets.

FTAG Live since 2010, FTAG owns the companies trying to squeeze more out of every acre: roughly 60 global stocks tied to improving agricultural yields, held as equities rather than grain futures.

Stated mandate

CUT The Fund is passively managed and seeks to generally match, before fees and expenses, the performance of the MSCI ACWI IMI Timber Select Capped Index. Its mandate covers securities connected with forest ownership and management and the manufacture of timber-based products.

FTAG FTAG seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield of the Indxx Global Agriculture Index. The index targets companies directly or indirectly engaged in improving agricultural yields.

Why people hold it

• CUT Launched November 2007, ahead of every other US-listed timber fund, so it carries a full cycle of history including the housing bust.stockanalysis.com
• A genuine timber mandate: forest and timberland owners plus makers of finished wood products. Not a broad materials fund with a few lumber names bolted on.msci.com
• The index builds from MSCI's all-country investable market universe, so large, mid and small caps across developed and emerging markets qualify, not just US timber REITs.msci.com
• About 50 holdings, and the index is a capped version, which limits how big any single position can get.

• FTAG An equity route into the farm theme. The index targets companies working to improve agricultural yields, so you hold operating businesses, not commodity futures contracts.ftportfolios.com
• Trading since 2010, a long live history for a single-theme fund, covering more than one full swing in the global farm cycle.
• A genuine basket, not a two-stock proxy: roughly 60 names, a global mandate by design, and distributions on a quarterly schedule.

Worth knowing

• CUT Costs 0.76% net of a waiver through August 31, 2027, and 0.99% without it. That sits above the category median; VEGI charges 0.39% and MOO 0.56%.
• Assets stay small and the shares trade thinly, so bid-ask spreads can cost more than the fee on a short holding period.
• Income lands once a year rather than quarterly, and most of the portfolio is priced in foreign currencies.

• FTAG At 0.70% a year, it prices above the typical fund in its global thematic peer group, where index-tracking rivals such as KLMT and IQSZ run far cheaper.
• A small asset base and light trading volume. Spreads tend to be wider than on mainstream funds, and larger orders take more care to fill.
• One narrow theme, concentrated in about 60 stocks. Returns track crop economics and farm spending far more closely than the broad global market.

Full CUT profile⁠

Full FTAG profile⁠