THMZ vs WRND

THMZBLazard Equity Megatrends ETF

WRNDBNYLI Global Equity R&D Leaders ETF

In short

THMZ Most thematic ETFs make you pick one trend and live with it. Lazard's megatrends fund is actively run across several themes at once, holding about 60 established companies worldwide and measuring itself against the global stock market.

WRND Most innovation funds sell you a story. WRND buys receipts: roughly 200 companies worldwide picked on what they actually spend on R&D and whether that spending earns a return, at a fee well under the thematic norm.

Stated mandate

THMZ THMZ is the ticker shown for Lazard Equity Megatrends ETF on NASDAQ.

WRND The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the IQ Global Equity R&D Leaders Index. Its passive strategy targets innovative companies worldwide based on high research and development spending.

Why people hold it

• THMZ Multi-theme by design: rather than one trend in a wrapper, the managers spread roughly 60 global holdings across several megatrends and let the theme mix evolve, with the MSCI All Country World Index as the yardstick.lazardassetmanagement.comlazardassetmanagement.com 2
• 0.50% net of a fee waiver (0.60% gross) sits below the median for global thematic funds, and level with AGNG, the aging-population ETF, at 0.50%.
• The mandate leans on established companies generally above $5 billion in market cap, emerging markets included. Blue-chip megatrends, not micro-cap moonshots.lazardassetmanagement.com
• Portfolio construction stands in the upper half of its global thematic peer group, and the fund pays distributions quarterly.

• WRND 0.18% a year against a 0.56% median for its global thematic peers. Innovation exposure without the boutique markup.newyorklifeinvestments.com
• Selection leans on the income statement: R&D intensity paired with return on invested capital, favoring firms that turn research budgets into results.newyorklifeinvestments.com
• Roughly 200 names from a global universe, one of three R&D-screened funds New York Life launched in 2022 rather than a one-off experiment.businesswire.com

Worth knowing

• THMZ No published index sits behind it. Which megatrends make the cut, and which names express them, is the manager's call, so there is nothing external to grade the stock picking against.lazardassetmanagement.com
• Trading is thin next to the giant index names, so the bid-ask gap can be wider and large orders need more care.
• It launched in 2025, so the record is short, and index-tracking rivals cost less: WRND charges 0.18% net of a fee waiver.

• WRND Small and lightly traded, so bid/ask spreads tend to run wider than on mainstream global index funds.
• Weighting by R&D dollars, with a cap on any single position, tilts the book toward the world's largest research spenders.businesswire.cometfstrategy.com
• Distributions arrive quarterly, but income isn't the mandate; the index screens on research spending, not payouts.

Full THMZ profile⁠

Full WRND profile⁠