LT Large Growth ETF

Jacob Seltz: I'm excited to share that we brought our active large-cap growth strategy to the ETF (exchange-traded fund) market: the Allspring LT Large Growth ETF. AGRW offers a new means of access, combining a long-standing and popular growth strategy with a vehicle known for its unique combination of benefits, including cost and tax efficiencies, daily transparency, and intraday liquidity. In essence, AGRW uses the same resources, the same research, and applies the same rigorous management process that exists in our SMA (separately managed account) and separate accounts—which have been around for decades and have more than $3 billion in assets. The fund is managed by our Empiric LT Equity team, which averages more than 21 years of industry experience. Why AGRW? There are a few key differentiators that make our investment approach and the ETF stand out. First is our focus on fundamentally superior companies with long-term top- and bottom-line growth potential, unique and resilient competitive advantages, outsized market share, and high barriers to entry. In other words, we target exceptional companies with superior growth potential. Second, we use a long-term focus, which means that every decision we make is based on our long-term investment thesis. We typically hold companies over a full business cycle or more. Why do we do this? We believe that, over the longer term, stock returns are driven by strong company fundamentals, which can ultimately drive outperformance. Third is our unique approach to portfolio diversification. AGRW seeks to find the best companies across four different growth classifications, which we identify as core, consistent, cyclical, and emerging growth categories. Our core growth classification acts as the building block of the portfolio. These are stocks with durable growth, independent of the economic environment and make up the majority of the portfolio. Second is our consistent growth classification. These stocks have more stable top- and bottom-line growth and tend to be less volatile than the other categories. Third is the cyclical growth classification. This part of the portfolio allows us to take advantage of where we are in the business cycle and benefit from a growing economy. Fourth is the emerging growth classification. These are less mature names with faster top-line growth and higher valuations as we seek to identify companies that can be market leaders in the next three to five years. This approach serves to expand the opportunity set and help manage portfolio risk. As business cycles and market sentiment change, it allows us to find underappreciated opportunities across these growth classifications. Our last differentiator is our proprietary decision-making tool called the Total Return Monitor. This is our valuation framework, a powerful portfolio construction tool that combines our long-term earnings estimates with a fair relative valuation and ranks every single company according to its expected return. We think this framework brings a truly consistent and repeatable approach to identifying growth opportunities and managing our portfolios. If you're looking to take a differentiated active approach to large-cap growth investing, then AGRW may be right for you.