ETF Evaluator: Clough Hedged Equity ETF () Follow This ETF

Clough Hedged Equity ETF Overview

Clough Hedged Equity ETF (CBLS) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Equity Hedged exchange-traded fund (ETF). Clough Capital Partners L.P. launched the ETF in 2020.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation while minimizing volatility. The fund is an actively managed ETF that seeks to achieve its investment objective by purchasing securities the Adviser, believes have above-average financial characteristics such as return on invested capital, profit margins, debt-to-equity ratio, or revenue and earnings growth as identified in financial statements, relative to the broader equity market; are undervalued based on valuation metrics such as (i) enterprise value to sales, (ii) enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or (iii) price to earnings ratios.

About Clough Hedged Equity ETF (CBLS)

There are 1 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.72 years: Vincent Lorusso (2020). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 3 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg World All Cap Eq Weight TR USD index with a weighting of 100%, Bloomberg US Treasury 0-1 Yr Mat TR USD index with a weighting of 50% and Bloomberg World All Cap Eq Weight TR USD index with a weighting of 50%. Clough Hedged Equity ETF has 70 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 29.6% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Clough Hedged Equity ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity ETF group. Clough Hedged Equity ETF has 11.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 52.0% There is 11.9% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Clough Hedged Equity ETF has 36.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $55 million in total assets, which is below the $294 million average for the Equity Hedged category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

CBLS Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Clough Hedged Equity ETF expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Equity Hedged category. Clough Hedged Equity ETF has an expense ratio of 1.89%, which is 147% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Clough Hedged Equity ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 719%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 97% for the Equity Hedged category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Clough Hedged Equity ETF returned -11.2%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Equity Hedged category had an average return of -1.4%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

Clough Hedged Equity ETF has a trailing yield of 0.82%, which is below the 3.45% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Clough Hedged Equity ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 9.9%, 2.8 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 4.9% over the past year (grade of F), 15.8% over the past three years (grade of A) and 3.8% per year over the past five years (grade of F).

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