SURE: 3rd Quarter 2025 Portfolio Review
Portfolio Review
The US stock market continued to make record-setting highs in the third quarter as relentless enthusiasm and investment in AI infrastructure and related technologies fueled strong corporate earnings. The Federal Reserve also contributed to the stock market rally by executing its first interest rate cut of 2025 in September. This was a pivotal moment signaling a shift in its policy focus. Encouraged by bullish market conditions, US public companies added $383 billion of new buyback capacity in the past quarter, led by JPMorgan ($50 billion), and Bank of America ($30.9 billion).
Source: Qubed Capital, LLC. | NVDA = NVIDIA Corp.; JPM = JPMorgan Chase & Co.; BAC = Bank of America Corp.; MS = Morgan Stanley; SCHW = The Charles Schwab Corp.; UBER = Uber Technologies, Inc.; CRM = Salesforce, Inc.; PH = Parker-Hannifin Corp.; AFL = Aflac Inc.; DHR = Danaher Corp.; MAR = Marriott International, Inc.; ABNB = Airbnb, Inc.; GILD = Gilead Sciences, Inc.; FOXA = Fox Corp.; TCOM = Trip.com Group Ltd.; MRVL = Marvell Technology, Inc..
The influence of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and technologies is hard to miss when we examine the individual positions in the SURE portfolio. The top performers in Q3, including Lam Research (LRCX), Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), and KLA (KLAC), all belong to this theme with impressive double-digit returns. Meanwhile, SURE’s diversified portfolio also means that we could source returns from other industries, such as Caterpillar (CAT) and HCA Healthcare (HCA). In the S&P 500 Index, technology accounts for 36% of the holdings, almost three times the weight of the next biggest sector, Financials. SURE carefully adopts a much more balanced approach, as its top four sectors—Technology (21%), Industrials (19%), Consumer Discretionary (18%), and Financials (17%)—are only separated by small margins.
Source: AdvisorShares, as of 10/31/25. Subject to change.
While equity investors have enjoyed a strong comeback after the slump in April this year, they should be mindful of several headwinds that remain major issues to watch. Persistent inflation has remained sticky around 3% year over year into September 2025, with headline CPI rising 0.3% month on month and core running near 3%, keeping real rates only modestly restrictive and sustaining margin pressure for tariff-exposed consumer goods and industrial supply chains. Another rate cut in December is far from certain, according to Fed officials. Even with the recent Trump-Xi truce in South Korea, elevated and shifting tariff regimes could continue to be incrementally inflationary at the margin.
Source: Bloomberg; from 8/30/19 – 9/30/25. U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) Core Goods tracks the price of physical items like apparel and new/used vehicles, while CPI Services less Energy Services measures the prices of services, including housing, but excludes energy-related services.
US equities entered the fourth quarter with strong momentum. The benchmark S&P 500 Index has been rising for six consecutive months. Near term, seasonal tailwinds and resilient profit delivery support risk appetite, but policy uncertainty from the government data blackout during the shutdown and tariff dynamics argue for a quality bias, selective cyclicals, and risk management. We believe SURE can serve as a better alternative for equity investors than typical benchmarks that are increasingly crowded by AI beneficiaries.
Top Holdings
| Ticker | Security Description | Portfolio Weight % |
| NSSC | NAPCO SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES | 1.40% |
| LRCX | LAM RESEARCH CORP | 1.32% |
| PINC | PREMIER INC-CLASS A | 1.23% |
| GOOG | ALPHABET INC-CL C | 1.21% |
| PAGS | PAGSEGURO DIGITAL LTD-CL A | 1.21% |
| APA | APA CORP | 1.20% |
| AAPL | APPLE INC | 1.17% |
| AMG | AFFILIATED MANAGERS GROUP | 1.15% |
| KLAC | KLA CORP | 1.14% |
| FCFS | FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS INC | 1.14% |
As of 09.30.2025. Holdings are subject to change.
Respectfully,
Minyi Chen
Qubed Capital, LLC
AdvisorShares Insider Advantage ETF (SURE) Portfolio Strategist
Past Commentary
– A buyback (or repurchase) occurs when a company repurchases its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of shares outstanding.
– An insider is an officer, director, executive, entity, or individual that owns more than 10% of a publicly traded company’s shares.
– Insider buying is the legal purchase of shares in a firm by a corporate insider that is not based on non-public, material information and follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and reporting requirements.
– The S&P 500 Index is a broad-based, unmanaged measurement of changes in stock market conditions based on the average of 500 widely held common stocks. One cannot invest directly in an index.
*On September 1, 2022, the AdvisorShares DoubleLine Value Equity ETF (the “Predecessor Fund”) was renamed the AdvisorShares Insider Advantage ETF. The Predecessor Fund had different portfolio managers and investment strategy than the AdvisorShares Insider Advantage ETF. Performance prior to September 1, 2022 reflects the Fund’s performance prior to the change in manager and investment strategy and may not be indicative of the Fund’s performance under the new manager and revised investment strategy. Performance since September 1, 2022 reflects actual AdvisorShares Insider Advantage ETF performance.
Before investing you should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information is in the prospectus or summary prospectus, a copy of which may be obtained by visiting the Fund’s website at www.AdvisorShares.com. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. Foreside Fund Services, LLC, Distributor.
The Fund’s investment focus follows a core philosophy that corporate insiders know their companies best. The Advisor believes that insider buying and stock buyback programs not only show that corporate insiders see relative value in investing in their own company’s equity securities, but also create favorable market conditions by reducing public equity float (i.e., the share supply available to investors on the public secondary market). The Advisor allocates the Fund’s portfolio using research from a disciplined and quantitative proprietary model, the U.S. Insiders Edge Model, developed by Qubed Capital, LLC. In utilizing the model, the Advisor seeks to remove emotion from day-to-day decision-making by following a systematic process.
The Fund is an actively-managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that seeks to achieve its investment objective by primarily investing in a portfolio of U.S. traded companies selected from a universe of the largest 3,000 U.S. equity securities based on market capitalization. When models and data prove to be incorrect or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon expose the Fund to potential risks. In addition, the use of predictive models has inherent risk.
The views in this commentary are those of the portfolio manager/strategist and may not reflect his views on the date this material is distributed or anytime thereafter. These views are intended to assist shareholders in understanding their investments and do not constitute investment advice.