Facebook will be added to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index prior to the open Wednesday, replacing Indian tech firm Infosys, which is transferring its listing to the NYSE on Wednesday.
As first reported by CNBC's Bertha Coombs, the addition of Facebook to the Nasdaq 100 will instantly give investors and traders of the popular PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF some exposure to the social media stock.
Most Actively-Traded ETFs
Ticker | Name | Avg. Daily Volume |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | 133m |
XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR | 57m |
EEM | MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund | 49m |
QQQ | PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF | 40m |
IWM | Russell 2000 Index Fund | 38m |
Source: Source: ETFdb
The QQQ ETF is the 4th most actively-traded ETF in the market, and it replicates the holdings and tracks the performance of the index.
However, if investors are looking to gain some exposure to Facebook through ETFs, without directly owning the company's common stock, they may want to look beyond the QQQs.
Nasdaq 100/QQQ ETF Weightings of Select Large Cap Techs
Apple | 16.3% |
Microsoft | 7.3% |
7.3% | |
Oracle | 4.9% |
Amazon.com | 3.6% |
Qualcomm | 3.5% |
Cisco Systems | 3.4% |
Intel | 3.2% |
eBay | 2.1% |
Source: Source: Thomson Reuters
Based on the $30 billion market cap of its float (the shares available for public trading), Facebook will probably have a weighting of around 1 percent in the QQQ ETF – about the same weighting as Baidu, DirecTV and Priceline.com.
While that makes it one of the top 25 most influential stocks on the Nasdaq 100, Facebook's index weighting will still be much smaller than some of the bigger larger cap tech stocks:
ETFs with Facebook Exposure
Ticker | Name | Facebook Weighting |
SOCL | Global X Social Media ETF | 14% |
FPX | First Trust U.S. IPO ETF | 10% |
FDN | First Trust DJ Internet ETF | 4% |
Since Facebook had its IPO nearly 7 months ago, a number of other ETFs have already incorporated the stock into its holdings. Those ETFs provide an even greater exposure to Facebook than the QQQ ETF, but are much more thinly-traded and have far fewer assets under management.