F/M Emerald Life Sciences Innovation ETF

F/M Emerald Life Sciences Innovation ETF (LFSC) is an actively managed fund. Its sub-adviser, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust, picks biotech, drug, diagnostics and medical device stocks that it sees as innovative. The fund is concentrated, with 38 holdings and about 54% in its top 10 as of August 31, 2026. Its expense ratio is 0.54% after a fee waiver, close to the 0.52% average of similar funds.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, LFSC returned +35.8%, 3rd of 6 among similar funds.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2025 (+56.5%); its best was 2025 (+56.5%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 29.7% (Nov 11, 2024 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Aug 22, 2025.

As of Aug 31, 2026, the fund held 38 securities; the ten largest made up 53.98% of assets.

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors added a net $3.9M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +14.69%, +0.99%, +0.38%.

LFSC does not track an index. Its sub-adviser, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust, picks the stocks under the supervision of the fund's adviser. It uses what it calls a proprietary 10-step research process, and the goal is long-term growth. The managers look for life science companies that are focused on, or expected to gain from, one of three things. The first is technological advancement, meaning turning new science into products. The second is market disruption, meaning challenging established business models. The third is artificial intelligence. Target fields include biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, health care services, health technology and synthetic biology.

In normal markets, at least 80% of net assets go into innovative life science companies. These come from specific health care subsectors of the FTSE Russell Industry Classification Benchmark, such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. The prospectus does not set a weighting formula or a rebalancing schedule, so the managers decide how much to put in each stock. Portfolio turnover was 19%, which points to fairly modest trading.

The fund holds ordinary stocks. As of August 31, 2026, it owned 38 companies and used no derivatives. About 93% was in US companies and about 7% in the UK, through LivaNova. The fund may also buy foreign shares, depositary receipts (US-traded certificates that stand for foreign stocks) and newly public companies, all of which can add volatility.

• LFSC charges 0.54% a year, versus an average of 0.52% for the similar funds below (4th of 6, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.79% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• The fee includes a 0.25% waiver from the adviser, which may end.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $55 in the first year and $955 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

A concentrated, actively managed group of 38 life science stocks with a beta of 1.2 and no income fits better as a small add-on than as a foundation.

LFSC could add focused exposure to biotech and medical innovation, but it has a short history and big price swings. It launched on October 30, 2024, so it has no record through the 2008, 2020 or 2022 downturns. Its deepest drop was 29.7%, from November 11, 2024 to April 8, 2025. It got back to its old peak on August 22, 2025, about 4.5 months after the low. Volatility was 27.4% over the year to October 27, 2026. Its only full calendar year, 2025, returned 56.5%, so its "worst year" says little about how it might hold up in a real bear market. Someone who has to sell in a bad year could end up selling after a sharp fall. The fund costs 0.54% a year and has paid no distributions, so it provides no income. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).