KNO vs XT

KNOCAXS Knowledge Leaders ETF

XTAiShares Future Exponential Technologies ETF

In short

KNO Most innovation ETFs buy US tech stories. KNO rebuilds the books instead, treating R&D, brand and training spend as investment, then buying the developed-market companies that rank highest on that knowledge capital.

XT Innovation, spread thin on purpose. XT holds roughly 200 global companies scored by Morningstar analysts for exposure to a handful of exponential tech themes, so no single moonshot carries the fund.

Stated mandate

KNO 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.

XT XT seeks to track an index of stocks from developed and emerging markets whose companies create or use exponential technologies. The strategy targets technologies with potential economic benefits, including the ability to displace older technologies or create new markets.

Why people hold it

• KNO The mechanism is the point: spending on R&D, advertising, brand and employee training is treated as capital, not expense, surfacing innovators the usual tech screens miss.axsinvestments.com
• All-sector and global by design, spanning North America, Europe and Asia, which is unusual in a category that leans heavily on US technology names.axsinvestments.com
• Innovation is not the only test. The screen also weighs profitability, financial strength, earnings growth and operating cash flow.
• Live since 2015 under its original Knowledge Leaders name before AXS took it over in 2024, so this is a long-running approach, not a freshly minted theme.prnewswire.com

• XT Cheap for the theme at 0.46% a year, below the typical fee in its disruptive-innovation cohort and under peers like TRFM and FDTX.
• Human fingerprint on the stock list: Morningstar equity analysts score companies on theme exposure instead of sorting by keywords or revenue tags.sec.govcontentstack.io
• Global by construction (developed and emerging markets) and not fenced into the tech sector, so a drugmaker or an industrial can qualify on theme exposure.sec.gov
• Launched in 2015 and now a multi-billion-dollar iShares fund, it stands among the stronger builds in its innovation peer group.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• KNO The 0.75% fee sits above the category median across the 31 innovation funds we track, and above peers like KOMP at 0.20% and XT at 0.46%.
• Among the smaller and more lightly traded funds in its group, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads and more price impact on bigger orders.
• Actively managed on a proprietary screen and measured against a broad equal-weighted world index, so the portfolio can look nothing like a US tech fund.sec.gov

• XT The index has been reworked since launch (weighting scheme, theme list), and themes get an annual review, so today's tilt is not fixed forever.morningstar.comsec.gov
• Moderately traded rather than a household name, which can mean wider spreads than the biggest tech ETFs.
• About 200 positions dilutes any single breakout winner, and distributions land only once or twice a year.

Full KNO profile⁠

Full XT profile⁠