Nasdaq TradeTalks: The WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund
Jill Malandrino:
Welcome to NASDAQ Trade Talks, I'm Jill Malandrino, Global Markets Reporter at NASDAQ. Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which takes place every October, now in its 19th year, is a collaboration between government and private industry to raise awareness about digital security and empower everyone to protect their personal data from digital forms of crime. Joining us for the segment we have Chris Gannatti, Global Head of Research at WisdomTree. Chris, it's great to have you with us, welcome to Trade Talks.
Chris Gannatti:
Thank you very much, Jill, it's a pleasure to be here.
Jill Malandrino:
All right, and before we get into the WisdomTree Fund that gets investors exposure to this segment, let's talk about cybersecurity more broadly. Can you tell us why cybersecurity? Why are we focusing on this now?
Chris Gannatti:
Well, as you stated at the outset, first and foremost, it's Cybersecurity Awareness month, I just learned the 19th one in a row, so maybe we'll have to come back for the 20th one next year, but if we think of the conveniences of modern life, many of these are based on digital infrastructure, and anytime there's technology, there's digital infrastructure, there's all the exciting stuff we appreciate, and the conveniences that we feel we need, we have to secure that, and that's really where cybersecurity comes in.
Jill Malandrino:
And remind everyone, what makes the WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund ticker WCBR unique?
Chris Gannatti:
So at WisdomTree, we have an entire family of thematic investments, and the key thing we focus on is expertise, and we work with an expert in cybersecurity, Team8. I've spoken to a former head of the NSA, the National Security Agency, that actually works there, so they have incredibly credentialed people on staff, and it's really their views, their thoughts, their expertise that drives the analysis of the cybersecurity offering of the underlying constituents in the given WisdomTree approach. And WisdomTree as a long-standing expertise looking at fundamentals of companies, and in this case, what we add, so Team8 is looking at the cybersecurity details and the purity of exposure, wisdom Tree adds a focus on revenue growth, and together you have pure play, cybersecurity companies that are growing their revenues typically faster than the key benchmarks that you would see like a NASDAQ 100.
Jill Malandrino:
Are there any themes you would like to highlight in Cybersecurity Awareness Month?
Chris Gannatti:
So we've seen a lot of excitement, you look, and every other day you're seeing articles about artificial intelligence and smarter security is a key area, a key focal point. We're about to go into earning season, and something that everyone's washing in the tech space is cloud and cloud spending, and whether it's the biggest three companies that everyone knows or some of the smaller players that focus on software as a service, that's a big trend. The performance this year has been great, but that's an area where you see a lot of cybersecurity solutions. Resilience is important because at the end of the day, what companies are realizing, what Chief Information Security Officers are realizing today, it's not if there's going to be an attack, it's how you're going to respond when there's attack, and making sure that you're ready with the backups and a resilience system.
Jill Malandrino:
And Chris, for those watching, want to learn more about what we just discussed today, where can they go?
Chris Gannatti:
I would love it if everyone came to our blog wisdomtree.com and there's information on all sorts of different strategies, this being one amongst many on the list.
Jill Malandrino:
All right, Chris, appreciate the insight as always, thanks for joining us on Trade Talk, I'm Jill Malandrino, Global Markets Reporter at NASDAQ.
