PureFunds ISE Cyber Security ETF (HACK-N)

Buy individual cybersecurity stocks or buy this ETF? He now hold a full position in HACK. He also owns Palo Alto--and can't fathom why it isn't part of HACK, because it's the dominant player in cybersecurity.

Internet security are software companies and this group is in favour, because companies need security now. This ETF holds a basket of these companies and this should do well in the coming year. A little money may rotate out of tech into financials, but only briefly, he expects.

There's massive focus on this now: collecting personal data and hacking into company databases, which happens more than we think. Cyber security companies have explosive potential growth. Caveat: this is a highly concentrated basket of stocks. Like Amazon, at some point these companies will suffer a sudden 90% drop.

How effective are cyber ETFs? Tech is a great area to be in, despite the Facebook scandal. ETFs are a good way to play this sector. Just keep your weighting at 5%.

Cyber security ETF. It is a niche exposure. Whenever there is news of a data breach, this one receives inflows and volume. This is a good ETF giving you a targeted exposure with good liquidity. If you want niche plays in concentrated sectors that may be volatile, and if you feel there is another data breach coming, then this ETF will probably respond with positive price action to this kind of news. Probably not a long term kind of investment vehicle.

Cyber Security? The worst thing that has happened in this space is that they came up with an ETF for it. Whenever you see mutual funds and the ETF industry jump on an idea, you have to wonder if it is a little too late. This has some questionable positions in it. Palo Alto Networks (PANW-N) would be his 1^st choice, and Qualys (QLYS-Q) would be his 2^nd choice. You have to be careful because the idea of cyber Security is now embedded in a lot of the consulting and technology business already.

If you are marketing an ETF to the public, one of the great things you want to do is to play off of something that is in the news. This is a very narrow focus on a sector that is in the news. It is a higher risk on a very small segment of the market. He would prefer buying some of the companies rather than the ETF such as Palo Alto Networks (PANW-N) or CyberArk Software (CYBR-Q).

Cyber security. [Caller concerned about risks of an ETF failing] An ETF does not fail, but they could close it if it did not work. It costs $25k-$30k per year to run an ETF. You need about $8-10 Million in the ETF to just start making money. There is only $2 Million in it right now. It is a great strategy for playing that area. Concerns are that it does not pay much of a dividend and the sector is trading at a pretty high multiple.