SURE: 1st Quarter 2026 Portfolio Review
Portfolio Review
Several structural features of the fund explain the divergence. Most important is what SURE owns—and what it doesn’t. Technology accounts for roughly 33% of the S&P 500. In SURE, it is about 16%. Energy and utilities, which together make up just 6% of the benchmark, represent approximately 18% of the fund’s portfolio. No single sector exceeds 20%. The portfolio is equal-weighted and reconstituted monthly, which means SURE naturally avoids the kind of mega-cap concentration that punished index investors this quarter.
That sector balance proved especially valuable once the Iran war broke out in late February and crude prices began their climb. West Texas Intermediate rose nearly 40% from pre-war levels by mid-March. Holdings like Exxon Mobil, TechnipFMC, Murphy USA and Marathon Petroleum—all in the fund because of their active buyback programs—benefited directly from the energy rally while much of the rest of the market sold off.
The other tailwind is the extraordinary pace of corporate share repurchases. Companies announced $442.6 billion worth of new buyback programs in the first quarter, a record for any quarter in history. The trend has not slowed since the onset of the conflict: total new buyback announcements exceeded $8.9 billion in March alone, nearly double the figure from the same month a year ago.
Some sectors accelerated dramatically. Consumer Staples companies added $46 billion in new buyback programs during Q1, compared with $27 billion for the entirety of 2025. Energy added $21.6 billion in the quarter, exceeding the $15 billion authorized during the full prior year. For a fund built around the thesis that corporate insiders know their companies best—and that float-shrinking buyback programs create favorable conditions for shareholders—this is precisely the environment in which the strategy is designed to deliver.
The question investors now face is whether the conditions that favored SURE in Q1 will persist into the second quarter. Early signs suggest they may.
In the first days of April, President Trump delivered a prime-time address on the war that did little to reassure markets a swift resolution was near. He pledged continued military operations for two to three more weeks. For SURE, the fund’s meaningful energy weighting acts as a natural hedge in a market dominated by the oil trade. Its avoidance of Magnificent Seven concentration insulates it from the valuation compression hitting mega-cap tech. And the record pace of buyback activity suggests that corporate management teams themselves see the sell-off as an opportunity, the same signal the fund’s quantitative model is designed to capture.
With the Cboe Volatility Index trading above 25, crude oil near multi-year highs, and markets swinging on every geopolitical headline, the case for a diversified, fundamentals-driven portfolio that follows the lead of corporate insiders is, if anything, stronger than it was three months ago. In a quarter defined by concentration risk and geopolitical shock, SURE’s equal-weight, buyback-focused approach did exactly what it was designed to do.
Top Holdings
| Ticker | Security Description | Portfolio Weight % |
| DVA | DAVITA INC | 1.36% |
| FTI | TECHNIPFMC PLC | 1.29% |
| XOM | EXXON MOBIL CORP | 1.28% |
| ECPG | ENCORE CAPITAL GROUP INC | 1.27% |
| ODFL | OLD DOMINION FREIGHT LINE | 1.23% |
| MUSA | MURPHY USA INC | 1.23% |
| MPC | MARATHON PETROLEUM CORP | 1.19% |
| ALSN | ALLISON TRANSMISSION HOLDING | 1.18% |
| KLAC | KLA CORP | 1.18% |
| IRDM | IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC | 1.16% |
As of 03.31.2026. Holdings are subject to change.
Past Commentary
*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.