BBLU: Revisiting EA Bridgeway's Active Blue-Chip Core ETF
BBLU is recently reorganized actively managed blue-chip ETF with a history dating back to July 1997. Returns of its predecessor mutual fund indicate long-term outperformance over S&P 500 Index ETFs. BBLU and SPY have strikingly similar return profiles despite BBLU holding just 36 equities, suggesting its four managers are extremely skilled at identifying the key stocks that drive markets. BBLU features a consistently lower portfolio beta, though its growth and value mix is slightly unfavorable - a reversal from my review from about two years ago.
BBLU: Blue Chip Allocation Has Been Rewarding For This Fund
The Ea Bridgeway Blue Chip ETF focuses on large, established U.S. companies, emphasizing financial services, healthcare, and communication services, while maintaining significant technology exposure. BBLU's valuation is attractive, with a P/E ratio 12.5% below the S&P 500, driven by its sector allocation and stock selection in value sectors. BBLU has outperformed the S&P 500 over the past five years, showing resilience in down markets like 2022, with lower volatility and strong risk-adjusted returns.
BBLU: An Active Blue-Chip Strategy Worth Considering
BBLU is actively managed, with a focus on top-quality blue chips. It can ignore certain sectors. At this point, there are no materials, real estate, or utilities in its portfolio. Since being converted into an ETF in October 2022, BBLU has outperformed the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) in 14 months out of 19. It has also delivered stronger risk-adjusted returns compared to QQQ. The current version of the portfolio has 37 stocks. Capturing about 50% of IVV's portfolio, it has stronger quality and a higher adjusted earnings yield.
