About Us
In August of 2014, WBI Shares made history in the active ETF industry when it launched 10 active ETFs and raised over $1 billion in assets under management during its first day of trading. After just over a year in the ETF business, WBI became the fifth largest active ETF provider. WBI Shares offers innovative ETFs that seek to provide consistent, attractive returns, net of expenses, with potentially less volatility and risk to capital than traditional approaches. WBI Shares active ETFs do not seek to replicate the holdings of an index. Instead, their holdings are chosen by a professional investment manager. WBI Shares partners with WBI® and the ETFs are traded on the U.S. Stock Exchanges.
Why WBI
We are the dividend ETF shop with a time-tested, active approach to risk management. We’ve dedicated more than 30 years to managing the loss of investor capital with active strategies. Factor-based strategies are part of our DNA. Now is among the riskiest times we’ve seen and too few investors are nervous – and they should be.
An investment in the Funds is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal. The Funds may invest in foreign and emerging market securities which carry additional risks than investing in the United States such as currency fluctuation, economic or financial instability, and lack of timely or reliable financial information or unfavorable political or legal developments. The Funds are subject to model risk, the investment process includes the use of proprietary models and analysis which rely on third party data and if inaccurate could adversely affect the Fund performance. The Funds may invest in REITs and will be subject to the risks associated with the direct ownership of real estate and annual compliance with tax files applicable to REITs. Risks commonly associated with the direct ownership of real estate include fluctuations in the value of underlying properties, defaults by borrowers or tenants, changes in interest rates and risk related to general or local economic conditions.
The Funds may invest in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), mutual funds and Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) which will subject the Funds to additional expenses of each ETF, mutual fund or ETN and risk of owning the underlying securities held by each. Options on securities may be subject to greater fluctuations in value than an investment in the underlying securities. Master Limited Partnership risk entails risks such as fluctuations in energy prices, decrease in supply of or demand for energy commodities.
In addition, the Funds are subject to market risk, management risk, dividend risk, growth risk, value risk, debt security risk, high-yield security risk, small and medium company risk, portfolio turnover risk, securities business risk, mortgage-backed securities risk, and trading price risk. New ETFs may also be subject to “new fund” risk in that it has no operating history and that its strategy may not be viable over time.
In addition, there are risks specific to WBIY. The Fund invests in high yielding stocks, which are often speculative, high risk investments. These companies can be paying out more than they can support and may reduce their dividends or stop paying dividends at any time, which could have a material adverse effect on the stock price of these companies and the Fund’s performance. The Fund is not actively managed and the Sub-Advisor does not attempt to take defensive positions in declining markets. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not utilize an investing strategy that seeks returns in excess of its Underlying Index.