NBDS vs TRFM

NBDSCNeuberger Berman Disrupters ETF

TRFMAAAM Transformers ETF

In short

NBDS Most disruption funds hand the job to a rulebook. NBDS hands it to Neuberger Berman's analysts: roughly 30 hand-picked companies whose technologies or services may reshape their markets, priced at the category's going rate.

TRFM Most disruption funds buy the story. TRFM screens for companies actually writing R&D checks, then spreads the theme across a couple hundred US-listed names instead of a concentrated bet on thirty.

Stated mandate

NBDS The Fund targets companies offering differentiated solutions, technologies, or services that may create or reshape markets, using internal research and analysis to identify such businesses.

TRFM The Fund passively tracks the total return of the Pence Transformers Index before fees and expenses. The index targets U.S.-listed equity securities of companies positioned to benefit from significant changes in consumer behavior and technological innovation.

Why people hold it

• NBDS Human stock-picking, not a screen. Managers use internal research to hunt companies with differentiated solutions, technologies or services that may create or reshape markets.
• Concentrated by design: about 30 names, so a winner actually moves the needle instead of getting diluted inside a sprawling innovation basket.
• Active management at index-fund pricing for this corner: the 0.65% expense ratio sits right at the median for disruptive-innovation ETFs.
• Holds up well against a crowded field, landing in the upper half of its disruptive-innovation peer group on our overall read.

• TRFM Candidates are screened on research-and-development spending, so names earn a slot with budget receipts, not just a narrative.nasdaq.com
• 0.49% a year, below the typical fee in its disruptive-innovation cohort, and it follows a published index rather than a manager's hunches.
• Modified equal weighting across a couple hundred holdings keeps any single mega-cap from quietly becoming the whole theme.stockanalysis.com
• Sits among the strongest implementations in its disruptive-innovation peer group on our review.

Worth knowing

• NBDS Thinly traded. Shares change hands lightly, which can mean wider gaps between buy and sell prices than the big names in the theme.
• Cheaper index routes to similar ground exist, including KOMP at 0.20% and XT at 0.46%.
• A 30-stock portfolio of high-growth disruptors concentrates risk, and the fund only launched in 2022, so the track record is short.

• TRFM Not the cheapest door into the theme. Broader innovation rivals such as KOMP carry a lower expense ratio.
• Trades thinly next to the category's giants, so the bid-ask spread can matter more to your cost than the fee does.
• Launched in 2022, so the track record is short, and the index stays US-listed (ADRs count) rather than buying foreign shares directly.stockanalysis.com

Full NBDS profile⁠

Full TRFM profile⁠