FLSP vs LSEQ

FLSPAFranklin Systematic Style Premia ETF

LSEQDHarbor Long-Short Equity ETF (LSEQ)

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.

LSEQ A hedge fund playbook in an ETF shell: LSEQ buys the large and mid caps it likes and shorts the ones it doesn't, keeping net long exposure usually between 40% and 60%. Roughly half-invested by design, with room to stretch to 150% long.

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.

LSEQ The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital through long and short positions in equity securities. It generally maintains net long exposure of 40% to 60%, with exposure occasionally reaching 150% long.

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.

• LSEQ Shorting is the point, not a garnish. The fund runs a long book and a short book across Russell 1000 large and mid caps, so both sides of the trade drive the outcome.sec.gov
• Net exposure has guardrails: normally 40% to 60% long, with room to stretch to 150%. You always know roughly how much market you are carrying.sec.gov
• Hedge fund mechanics without the hedge fund gates: a 1940 Act fund that trades on an exchange, with published holdings, no lockups and no accreditation test.sec.gov
• Active from the ground up: about 160 positions, picked stock by stock rather than tracked, inside a single US large and mid cap universe.sec.gov

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.

• LSEQ Costs 2.28% a year against a 0.65% median for active US equity funds. Core rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and DFAC (0.17%) charge a small fraction of that.
• Small asset base and thin trading. Spreads can widen, so limit orders and a look at the quote matter more here than with a giant index fund.
• Shorts cut both ways. When a shorted stock rises, the loss is not capped the way a long position's is, and borrowing those shares carries its own cost.sec.gov

Full FLSP profile⁠

Full LSEQ profile⁠