Its relevance in question, one thing that is not debatable
about Cyber Monday is rising sales. Shoppers are expected to
spend $1.5 billion today as they visit various e-commerce web
sites, a 20 percent increase from last year's levels, according
to research firm comScore.
Cyber Monday is one more opportunity for retailers to extend
the gains from the Thanksgiving weekend. This year, spending for
the four days starting November 22 in stores and online reached
$59.1 billion, according to National Retail Federation.
To be sure, Internet retail sales, regardless of the time of
year, are rising. Internet sales will grow 17 percent from a year
earlier and make up more than 10 percent of U.S. retail spending,
Bloomberg reported, citing comScore
.
In other words, Cyber Monday may just be a near-term catalyst
to lift the fortunes of the following
ETFs
that are heavy on discretionary and retail names.
First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (NYSE:
FDN
)
With about 14 percent of its combined weight devoted to
e-commerce pioneers Amazon (NASDAQ:
AMZN
) and eBay (NASDAQ:
EBAY
), the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund makes for an
obvious Cyber Monday play. Apparently, traders realize as much as
FDN is trading higher in midday trading as the broader market
slumps.
There is more to FDN's Cyber Monday story beyond Amazon and
eBay. FDN, the oldest and largest ETF devoted to the Internet
sub-sector, is also the largest ETF that Facebook (NASDAQ:
FB
) calls home. Retailers, and other companies for that matter, are
increasingly using social media to attract new customers. Cyber
Monday is a perfect example of that trend as plenty of
recognizable firms are offering deals direct from their Facebook
pages.
PowerShares NASDAQ Internet Portfolio (NASDAQ:
PNQI
)
In the case of the $49.2 million PowerShares NASDAQ Internet
Portfolio, this ETF devotes about 16 percent of its weight to
Amazon and eBay. With Priceline (NASDAQ:
PCLN
) accounting for 8.6 of its weight and travel-related names
combining for over 13 percent of the ETF's weight, PNQI could get
a lift if some of that Cyber Monday went to plane tickets and
hotel reservations.
Beyond that, the ETF offers some exposure to names such as
Blue Nile (NASDAQ:
NILE
) and Groupon (NASDAQ:
GRPN
), which further validates this unheralded fund as a valid Cyber
Monday play.
Market Vectors Retail ETF (NYSE:
RTH
)
The Market Vectors Retail ETF may not be exclusively devoted to
Internet stocks, but this ETF may prove to be the best Cyber
Monday play of all. On the surface, some investors may see an
almost 9.5 percent allocation to Amazon as RTH's only legitimate
Internet exposure. However, further inspection is required.
Wal-Mart (NYSE:
WMT
), Target (NYSE:
TGT
) and Costco (NASDAQ:
COST
) are known for their brick-and-mortar stores, but all three are
now major e-commerce players. That trio accounts for over 23
percent of RTH's weight.
RTH is small with just 26 holdings, but the good news is the
ETF's more speculative fare such as Best Buy (NYSE:
BBY
) and J.C. Penney (NYSE:
JCP
) account for small percentages of the fund's overall weight.
For more on ETFs, click
here
.
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advice. All rights reserved.