AdvisorShares, a leading sponsor of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs), today announced that the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (Ticker: MSOS) has surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, standing out among notable recent ETF launches.
When it launched on September 2, 2020, the actively managed MSOS became the first U.S.-listed ETF focused solely on American cannabis companies, including multi-state operators (MSOs). MSOs are U.S. companies directly involved in the legal production and distribution of cannabis in states where approved. This ETF with its apt ticker seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing entirely in legal, domestic cannabis equity securities. Its domestic equity strategy allows MSOS to allocate its underlying portfolio among MSO companies as well as other U.S.-based cannabis-focused areas such a REITs, cannabidiol (CBD), pharmaceutical and hydroponics. MSOS launched with $2.5 million in assets and has since grown to over $1 billion in assets less than six months after its inception.
“There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the cannabis investment space right now and for a variety of a reasons,” said Dan Ahrens, AdvisorShares’ chief operating officer and portfolio manager of MSOS. “We firmly believe that the U.S. cannabis market provides a compelling long-term investment opportunity that clearly differentiates itself from other areas of the globe. Investors must exercise careful due diligence when navigating cannabis and we believe MSOS’ unique, actively managed investment mandate delivers a sought-after solution to the marketplace.”
MSOS is the sister fund to the AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (Ticker: YOLO), an actively managed global cannabis investment strategy which Mr. Ahrens also serves as the portfolio manager. When YOLO launched in 2019, it became the first U.S.-listed active ETF dedicated to cannabis exposure – investing in both domestic and foreign cannabis equity securities. YOLO, a top performing cannabis ETF for its one-year and since inception, has gathered over $465 million in assets under management.
“The overall industry and investor response to both MSOS and YOLO has been remarkable, and it has been encouraging to see their expanded availability across prominent investment platforms for advisors to access,” added Noah Hamman, chief executive officer of AdvisorShares. “Dan’s portfolio management experience and expertise has been evident with these highly-specialized offerings. We also take a serious responsibility to provide investment education surrounding cannabis, which remains much needed for financial professionals and all investor types, and regularly communicate commentary and insights on AdvisorShares.com, recurring webcasts and social media.”
Total Return % (through 2/19/2021)
| Ticker | Name | 3-Month | YTD | 1-Year | Inception |
| YOLO | AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (Market) | 92.83 | 62.88 | 150.54 | 10.25 |
| YOLO | AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (NAV) | 91.18 | 61.34 | 148.65 | 9.61 |
| S&P 500 | 9.49 | 4.23 | 17.44 | 19.72 |
Inception: 4/17/2019
Source: Morningstar; Time periods greater than 1-year are annualized.
Cannabis ETFs are U.S. listed ETFs who hold themselves out to be cannabis focused or have 80% of the holdings in cannabis or cannabis related companies. For 1-year this represents 6 ETFs, and since inception represents 2 ETFs.
Total Return % (through 2/19/2021)
| Ticker | Name | 3-Month | YTD | Inception |
| MSOS | AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (Market) | 71.76 | 42.30 | 110.54 |
| MSOS | AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (NAV) | 72.57 | 42.27 | 106.65 |
| S&P 500 | 9.49 | 4.23 | 11.61 |
Inception: 9/2/2020
Source: Morningstar
Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost. For month-end and standardized performance click on the following links www.advisorshares.com/etfs/yolo and www.advisorshares.com/etfs/msos.
Short term performance may often reflect conditions that are unstainable and thus may not be repeated in the future.
