ETF Education Report: ProShares Long Online/Short Stores Retail ETF (CLIX)

What this ETF is trying to do

The ProShares Long Online/Short Stores Retail ETF (CLIX) is designed to track a specific strategy. Based on its name, it focuses on being "long" online companies and "short" physical retail stores. This means it aims to benefit when online shopping grows and traditional brick-and-mortar stores struggle.

What the numbers show

When looking at an ETF, it is important to understand two different types of returns: price return (how much the share price changed) and total return (the price change plus any cash paid out to investors).

• Year-to-Date (YTD): The price return is approximately -2.78%, while the total return is approximately -2.38%.

• One-Year: The price return was approximately -3.19%, and the total return was approximately -2.70%.

• Three-Year: This ETF has seen significant growth over a longer period. The price return was approximately 65.87%, and the total return was approximately 68.31%.

• Five-Year: The five-year total return was approximately -13.26%.

To give you an idea of the recent price movement, the current price is $58.78. The estimated price from roughly one year ago was approximately $60.71.

Top Holdings

The following are the top holdings in this portfolio (note that this is a partial list):

• AMAZON.COM INC: 20.96%

• CASH: 9.18%

• ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD ADR: 7.99%

• EBAY INC: 6.52%

• CTE PROSHARES TRUST M: 5.66%

• PDD HOLDINGS INC ADR: 4.35%

• CARVANA CO CLASS A: 4.27%

• PROSHARES ONLINE RETAIL INDEX SWAP: 3.83%

• MERCADOLIBRE INC: 3.76%

• COUPANG INC ORDINARY SHARES CLASS A: 3.21%

Income and distribution explanation

Some investors look for ETFs that pay out cash, known as distributions. This ETF has a distribution yield of approximately 0.47%. Over the last 12 months, it made three distributions. It is important to remember that a distribution yield tells you how much cash was paid out relative to the price, but it is not the same as your total return.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" refers to a decline in the Net Asset Value (the actual value of the assets held by the fund). While a falling share price can sometimes look like erosion, they are not always the same thing. For this ETF, the erosion-risk score is 94, which is labeled as "Stable / sideways," and the erosion severity is considered "good." There is no severe erosion-risk flag for this ETF.

Pros

• The ETF has shown strong total returns over a three-year period.

• The erosion-risk measurement is currently rated as "good."

Cons

• The ETF has experienced negative price and total returns over the last year and year-to-date.

• The five-year total return has been negative.

Beginner takeaway

When studying CLIX, remember that price returns and total returns are different. While the ETF has had a strong three-year run, its recent one-year performance has been down. Always look at both the share price movement and the distributions to understand how an ETF is performing.