UPGD vs USCA

UPGDDInvesco Bloomberg Analyst Rating Improvers ETF

USCAAXtrackers MSCI USA Climate Action Equity ETF

In short

UPGD Most equity funds screen for cheap or profitable. UPGD screens for improving: about 50 US large and mid caps whose analyst recommendations are trending up, run as a rules-based index at 0.40%.

USCA The largest US ETF debut on record when it launched in 2023, seeded by a Finnish pension fund. It owns roughly 400 US large- and mid-caps, keeping only the top half of each sector on MSCI's climate-transition scoring, for 0.07% a year.

Stated mandate

UPGD The fund is tied to the Bloomberg ANR Improvers Index, which selects 50 companies from the Bloomberg US Large Mid Universe using analyst-recommendation improvement scores.

USCA The fund seeks to track the MSCI USA Climate Action Index before fees and expenses through a passive indexing strategy. The index selects U.S. large- and mid-capitalization companies assessed as leading sector peers in climate-transition positioning and actions.

Why people hold it

• UPGD Costs 0.40% a year, comfortably under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds in its peer group.
• The Bloomberg ANR Improvers Index does the picking: 50 names drawn from Bloomberg's US large and mid cap universe on analyst-recommendation improvement scores. Rules, not a stock picker's mood.invesco.com
• A rare factor in a crowded aisle. Plenty of funds chase value, quality or momentum; few build the portfolio around the direction analyst sentiment is moving.
• Lands in the top quartile of its US active-equity cohort on our overall read, helped by low cost and a clean, transparent portfolio.

• USCA Costs 0.07% a year against a typical screened US equity peer near 0.28%, and undercuts bigger ESG names like SUSA at 0.25%.
• No blanket sector bans: the index keeps the top 50% of companies in each GICS sector, so energy and industrials stay in, represented by their climate-transition leaders.dws.commsci.com
• Rules do the picking. MSCI's climate metrics, ESG ratings and controversy screens set the roster; no manager discretion, no stock-by-stock calls.dws.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with an institutional anchor investor from day one, and it pays quarterly.businesswire.com

Worth knowing

• UPGD Thinly traded, so spreads can be wider than on household-name funds and a big order can nudge the price.
• Analyst sentiment is the whole engine. With about 50 holdings, individual names carry real weight and the fund can tilt hard toward wherever upgrades are clustering.
• Cheaper than the active median, not cheap outright: broad core options such as DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%) charge a fraction of it.

• USCA Half of each sector is screened out, so results can drift from a plain MSCI USA index fund in either direction.dws.com
• Market-cap weighted and filed as non-diversified, so America's largest companies carry heavy weight at the top.dws.com
• Moderately traded next to the giants of US equity, so spreads can be a bigger part of the cost of getting in and out.

Full UPGD profile⁠

Full USCA profile⁠