Sparkline Intangible Value ETF

Sparkline Intangible Value ETF (ITAN) is an actively managed fund. It buys U.S.-listed stocks that its manager, Sparkline Capital, judges to be cheap once you count intangible assets such as brands, patents, talent and network effects. Most traditional value funds rely on accounting figures, so this sets ITAN apart. It charges 0.50% a year and is small, with about $118.5 million in net assets as of August 31, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, ITAN returned +27.0%.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +13.1%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-24.4%); its best was 2023 (+34.6%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 30.4% (Nov 16, 2021 to Oct 12, 2022), recovered by Dec 19, 2023.

As of Aug 31, 2026, the fund held 159 securities; the ten largest made up 21.11% of assets.

By sector

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors added a net $23.6M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -1.79%, +2.20%, +4.68%.

ITAN does not track an index. Sparkline Capital LP is the sub-adviser, meaning the firm hired to pick the investments. It starts with roughly the 1,000 largest U.S.-listed companies by market value and may drop any it decides have little intangible value. It then estimates each company's "intangible-augmented intrinsic value" across five pillars: human capital, brand equity, intellectual property, network effects and tangible assets. Four of the five pillars are intangible, so intangible value usually carries more weight.

Standard accounting captures little of this. So the firm relies on alternative data, meaning non-traditional sources such as the text of company reports, patent and trademark grants, employee reviews and social media. It uses natural language processing, a type of machine learning that reads text, to turn this material into numbers. It averages several measures into a score for each pillar, then adds the five scores together. The fund generally holds the highest-scoring stocks. It weights them using factors that include value, company size and how easily the shares trade.

The prospectus sets no fixed number of holdings. As of August 31, 2026, the fund owned 159 stocks, and the top 10 made up about 21% of assets. Its portfolio turnover was 43%, meaning it replaced a bit under half its portfolio over a year. It does not use leverage or an options strategy.

• ITAN charges 0.5% a year.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $51 in the first year and $628 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is an actively managed, model-driven value strategy with a short record and stock-market-sized swings, so it fits more naturally as a smaller tilt than as a portfolio's foundation.

ITAN could add a value tilt built around intangible assets. As of August 31, 2026, its largest positions were Amazon, Intel, Merck and Salesforce. The fund launched in June 2021, so it has no record through the 2008 or 2020 crashes. Its deepest drop was 30.4%, from a November 2021 peak to October 12, 2022. It took about 14 months from that low to recover, in December 2023. 2022 was its worst calendar year, at -24.13%. Selling shares to cover spending during a slump like that would lock in losses.

Income is small. The trailing yield was 0.97% as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly. In the SEC's standard example, $10,000 earning 5% a year would pay about $51 in costs in the first year and $628 over 10 years. Past results don't predict future ones, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

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

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