FLSP vs LBAY

FLSPAFranklin Systematic Style Premia ETF

LBAYCLeatherback Long/Short Alternative Yield ETF

In short

FLSP A hedge-fund style trade in an ETF wrapper. FLSP goes long and short across value, momentum and carry rather than just owning cheap stocks, which makes it the odd one out in a cohort of long-only factor funds.

LBAY A hedge-fund playbook in ETF clothing: long the companies returning cash through dividends, buybacks and debt paydowns, short the single names it thinks are broken, net long throughout, 1.20% a year, paid monthly.

Stated mandate

FLSP The fund uses a top-down risk-premia strategy focused on value, momentum, and carry factors, taking both long and short positions.

LBAY The Fund seeks capital appreciation and income through an actively managed long/short equity strategy.

Why people hold it

• FLSP Runs both long and short positions, so the outcome hinges on the gap between the stocks it likes and the ones it doesn't, not purely on the market's direction.
• Three return sources under one ticker: value, momentum and carry, blended top-down instead of stacked onto a single stock screen.
• Spreads the bet across roughly 300 positions, so no single name carries the fund.
• Live since 2019 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, with the daily liquidity and transparency of an ETF wrapper around a strategy usually sold in private vehicles.

• LBAY "Shareholder yield" here means dividends plus buybacks plus debt paydowns, so the long book can hold cash-returners that never clear a plain dividend screen.sec.gov
• The short side is stock-picking, not just hedging: accounting oddities, short-lived fads, weak governance records. Sector and factor ETF shorts are also on the menu.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Longs can reach past common stock into preferreds, BDCs, MLPs, REITs and convertibles, and it can write covered calls on up to 100% of a position.sec.gov
• Runs as a 1940 Act fund with daily trading and monthly distributions, a different shape from the lockups that usually come with this kind of strategy.

Worth knowing

• FLSP At 0.65% a year it costs multiples of plain-vanilla factor peers like VONV (0.06%) and FNDX (0.25%). That is the price tag on the long/short machinery.
• No public index sits behind it, so there is no external yardstick to check it against, and results can look nothing like a US stock index in either direction.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not on a monthly rhythm.

• LBAY At 1.20% the fee sits near the typical alternatives fund, with no cut of the profits on top. Top-ranked peers do run leaner, though: FLSP charges 0.65%.
• Shorting costs money beyond the expense ratio: borrow fees plus any dividends owed on the borrowed shares. A short that keeps climbing has no built-in loss limit.sec.gov
• Small fund, light trading. Spreads can widen, so limit orders and a glance at the day's volume do real work here.

Full FLSP profile⁠

Full LBAY profile⁠