Hedged Equity ETF

Clough Hedged Equity ETF (CBLS) is an actively managed fund run by Clough Capital Partners. It buys mostly U.S.-listed stocks picked around global investment themes, and it can also sell stocks short, which is a bet that their prices will fall. It aims for long-term growth with less volatility than the broader market. Its 1.89% expense ratio is more than double the 0.86% charged by Clough Select Equity ETF (CBSE).

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, CBLS returned +8.0%.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +3.6%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-11.6%); its best was 2024 (+28.7%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 32.8% (Apr 29, 2021 to Oct 5, 2023), recovered by Jan 14, 2025.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 67 securities; the ten largest made up 29.59% of assets, and 2.49% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

By sector

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $5.2M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +3.66%, +4.41%, -11.24%.

CBLS does not track an index. Its adviser, Clough Capital Partners, starts by looking for industry or economic trends it believes other investors have missed. Examples include natural resource scarcity, new technology such as artificial intelligence, shifts in population and changes in profit or credit cycles. It then researches individual companies that could benefit. It favors firms with strong finances (high return on invested capital or profit margins), low valuations (for example, a low price-to-earnings ratio) or faster sales and earnings growth. It also weighs each company's market position and the quality of its management.

The fund mostly holds U.S.-listed stocks and depositary receipts, which are U.S.-traded certificates that represent shares of foreign companies. Some of these are emerging-market companies. As of July 31, 2026, it held 67 holdings, and the top ten made up 29.6% of assets. The largest were Venture Global (3.4%), e.l.f. Beauty (3.1%) and Freeport-McMoRan (3.0%). Position sizes are the manager's call. There is no index weighting or set rebalancing schedule.

The "hedged" part comes from short sales and derivatives such as options. A short sale loses money if the stock rises instead of falling. The goal is lower volatility than the Bloomberg World All-Cap Equal Weight TR Index. Portfolio turnover was 719%, which means heavy trading, though the adviser says it tries to manage taxes.

• CBLS charges 1.89% a year, versus an average of 0.86% for the similar funds below.
• Of that, 1.35% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $192 in the first year and $2,209 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is a costly, actively managed fund built on the manager's themes, and despite its hedged name it has had deep and long-lasting losses.

CBLS could add a theme-driven stock holding that has moved less than the market. Its one-year beta, a measure of how much it moves with the market, was 0.78 as of October 27, 2026. Its price history starts in 2021, so it has no record through 2008 or the 2020 crash. In the 2022 bear market it fell 21.1% from peak to trough and took about 22 months to recover. Its worst calendar year was 2022, at −11.6%. Its deepest drop was 32.8%, from April 2021 to October 2023, and it did not regain its April 2021 high until January 2025. Anyone selling shares for cash during that stretch would have sold at a loss. The yield was 0.83%, paid once a year, so it offers little income. Costs are high: $192 in the first year on $10,000. Past results don't predict future returns, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.