CWS: 2nd Quarter 2025 Portfolio Review
Market Review
The stock market came back to life during the second quarter of 2025. In April, at the start of Q2, the S&P 500 was in the middle of a rocky bear market. Traders were unnerved by the tariff policies policy coming out of Washington.
Then everything changed on April 9 when President Trump announced a pause in his tariffs. The stock market surged and kept on rallying. By the end of the Q2, the S&P 500 had reached a new all-time high.
During the quarter, the soft reports were getting weaker, but the hard ones were doing just fine. Of course, at some point, sentiment can start to impact reality.
The rally has tilted towards growth stocks which is typical early in a rally. As time goes on, I suspect that the market’s leadership will gradually rotate to conservative and value stocks.
The Federal Reserve continues to be very cautious. The Fed didn’t touch interest rates at all during the first half of 2025. That may change soon. Traders expect the Fed to resume cutting rates in September and President Trump has called on the Fed to cut rates immediately.
Performance Review
I’m pleased to say that the AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF (CWS) had another good quarter. For the first six months of 2025, CWS is again beating the rest of the market, and we’re doing it with considerably less risk. Year to date, CWS has returned 8.00% (NAV) | 7.98% (market) vs. 6.20% returned by the S&P 500 Index.
Here’s how CWS performed during Q2.
From 04.01.2025 to 06.30.2025. Source: StockCharts.com Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.
Portfolio Review
Let’s take a closer look at two stocks in particular that helped drive our gains during Q2.
On April 23, Amphenol (APH) reported outstanding results for its Q1. The company earned 63 cents per share, which easily topped Wall Street’s estimate of 52 cents per share. Sales were up 48% in U.S. dollars, and up 33% organically. During the quarter, Amphenol bought back 2.7 million shares for $180.9 million and paid out $200 million in dividends. That means that $380 million was returned to shareholders. For Q2, APH expects sales between $4.9 and $5 billion. That represents sales growth of 36% to 39%. Amphenol also sees Q2 earnings ranging between 64 and 66 cents per share. That represents growth of 45% to 50% over last year’s Q2. Traders loved the report, as did I.
On May 1, Stryker (SYK) reported Q1 earnings of $2.84 per share. That easily beat Wall Street’s view for $2.73 per share. That’s an earnings increase of 13.6%. Stryker is raised its sales guidance. Previously, the company expected organic-sales growth of 8% to 9%. It now sees organic sales rising by 8.5% to 9.5%. Stryker had been expecting this year’s earnings to range between $13.45 and $13.70 per share. Thanks to the tariffs, they cut 25 cents per share off both ends. The new range is $13.20 to $13.45 per share.
Top Holdings
| Ticker | Security Description | Portfolio Weight % |
| IESC | IES HOLDINGS INC | 5.23% |
| APH | AMPHENOL CORP-CL A | 5.21% |
| HEI | HEICO CORP | 5.09% |
| COR | CENCORA INC | 4.95% |
| INTU | INTUIT INC | 4.60% |
| ICE | INTERCONTINENTAL EXCHANGE IN | 4.60% |
| ROL | ROLLINS INC | 4.53% |
| ABT | ABBOTT LABORATORIES | 4.45% |
| AWK | AMERICAN WATER WORKS CO INC | 4.18% |
| BR | BROADRIDGE FINANCIAL SOLUTIO | 4.05% |
As of 06.30.2025. Holdings subject to change.
Outlook
What to Expect for the Rest of 2025
Thanks to inflation cooling off, the Federal Reserve seems willing to cut interest rates later this year. In fact, the Fed may cut three times before the end of this year. That would be very good for investors.
Overall, I’m very optimistic for the stocks in the AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF. Our stocks are mostly high-quality stocks that can prosper in any environments.
Respectfully,
Eddy Elfenbein
Crossing Wall Street
AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF (CWS) Portfolio Strategist
Management Fee
In a first for the ETF industry, the portfolio strategist of CWS has “skin in the game.” The strategist’s compensation is directly tied to portfolio’s performance. Using the trailing 12-month returns of CWS vs. its S&P 500 Index benchmark, stronger outperformance is rewarded with a larger management fee while weaker underperformance is penalized with a smaller management fee.
After the Fund’s June performance, the CWS fulcrum fee will be 0.67% in July 2025.
Past Commentary
Definitions:
A basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point (0.01%).
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There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. An investment in the Fund is subject to risk, including the possible loss of principal amount invested. The prices of equity securities rise and fall daily. These price movements may result from factors affecting individual issuers, industries or the stock market as a whole. Shares of the Fund may trade above or below their net asset value (“NAV”). The trading price of the Fund’s shares may deviate significantly from their NAV during periods of market volatility. There can be no assurance that an active trading market for the Fund’s shares will develop or be maintained. In addition, equity markets tend to move in cycles which may cause stock prices to fall over short or extended periods of time. Other Fund risks include market risk, liquidity risk, large cap, mid cap, and small cap risk. Please see prospectus for details regarding risk.
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