U.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF(AMEX:GOAU)

GOAU is the second fund from issuer US Global. The fund provides an alternate take on the mining space by screening for fundamental factors and using a complex tiered weighting structure. Unlike some competitors, the fund includes royalty and streaming companies, which provide capital to mining start-ups in exchange for a stake in the eventual production. GOAU starts by screening out mining firms that are financed primarily with debt. Miners in the top 10% by revenue per employee are deemed priority companies, and the index calculates a composite score for each security scoring priority companies by revenue/employees, operating cash flow/employees, and gross margin, and other firms by operating cash flow/enterprise value. GOAU builds its portfolio by filling a fixed, four-tier bracket of 28 names, starting with the highest-scored priority companies and then moving down the list of other firms. Tier 1 contains three names, weighted at 10% each, which must be gold or silver miners directly listed in the US or Canada, with at least $1 billion market cap. These requirements become less stringent with each tier, Tier 4 consists of ten names, weighted at 2% each, listed outside North America, with at least $200 million in market cap. GOAU reconstitutes quarterly.