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Intangible Impact​

Companies have been investing more and more in intangible assets such as patents, brands and research & development for decades. However, we believe this shift has distorted accounting and valuation metrics with significant implications for investors.

Companies have been investing more and more in intangible assets such as patents, brands and research & development for decades. However, we believe this shift has distorted accounting and valuation metrics with significant implications for investors.
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​​​​Chart showing Share of U.S. Business Spending for Intangible and Tangible products​​​​​​​​​​​
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  • The share of intangible business spending has nearly tripled over the past 40 years from 15% to over 41%, as exhibited in the chart above. This has created accounting issues given that internally generated intangible assets are generally expensed (i.e., immediately recorded on the income statement). On the other hand, tangible assets (e.g., factories, inventory, equipment) are generally capitalized (i.e., recorded as an asset on the balance sheet), where their cost is spread out over years via depreciation.
  • One implication of this trend is that the balance sheet may be missing more of a company’s true asset value, rendering book value less meaningful and impacting the style classification of growth versus value stocks, in our view.
  • ​We believe another implication is that earnings in aggregate are potentially being understated. It has been estimated that EPS could be around 10% higher for the S&P 500 Index if intangible spending were capitalized1. As a result, with this view, today’s adjusted price-to-earnings ratio may be lower than it appears, comparing more favorably with historical levels. In our view, this may have potentially encouraging implications for equity investors.
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​​​The views expressed are the views of Fred Alger Management, LLC (“FAM”) and its affiliates as of March 2023. These views are subject to change at any time and may not represent the views of all portfolio management teams. These views should not be interpreted as a guarantee of the future performance of the markets, any security or any funds managed by FAM. These views are not meant to provide investment advice and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell securities.

​​ Risk Disclosures: Investing in the stock market involves risks, including the potential loss of principal. Growth stocks may be more volatile than other stocks as their prices tend to be higher in relation to their companies’ earnings and may be more sensitive to market, political, and economic developments. Local, regional or global events such as environmental or natural disasters, war, terrorism, pandemics, outbreaks of infectious diseases and similar public health threats, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on investments. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investors whose reference currency differs from that in which the underlying assets are invested may be subject to exchange rate movements that alter the value of their investments.

Important Information for US Investors: This material must be accompanied by the most recent fund fact sheet(s) if used in connection with the sale of mutual fund and ETF shares. Fred Alger & Company, LLC serves as distributor of the Alger mutual funds.
Important Information for UK and EU Investors: This material is directed at investment professionals and qualified investors (as defined by MiFID/FCA regulations). It is for information purposes only and has been prepared and is made available for the benefit investors. This material does not constitute an offer or solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction in which it is not authorized or permitted, or to anyone who would be an unlawful recipient, and is only intended for use by original recipients and addressees. The original recipient is solely responsible for any actions in further distributing this material and should be satisfied in doing so that there is no breach of local legislation or regulation. Certain products may be subject to restrictions with regard to certain persons or in certain countries under national regulations applicable to such persons or countries.

Alger Management, Ltd. (company house number 8634056, domiciled at 78 Brook Street, London W1K 5EF, UK) is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Au¬thority, for the distribution of regulated financial products and services. FAM and/or Weatherbie Capital, LLC, U.S. registered investment advisors, serve as sub-portfolio manager to financial products distributed by Alger Management, Ltd.

Alger Group Holdings, LLC (parent company of FAM and Alger Management, Ltd.), FAM, and Fred Alger & Company, LLC are not authorized persons for the purposes of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 of the United Kingdom (“FSMA”) and this material has not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of Section 21(2)(b) of the FSMA.

Important information for Investors in Israel: This material is provided in Israel only to investors of the type listed in the first schedule of the Securities Law, 1968 (the “Securities Law”) and the Regulation of Investment Advice, Investment Marketing and Investment Portfolio Management Law, 1995. The Fund units will not be sold to investors who are not of the type listed in the first schedule of the Securities Law.

The S&P 500 Index is an unmanaged index generally representative of the U.S. stock market. The indices presented are provided for illustrative purposes, reflect the reinvestment of dividends and do not assess fees and expenses that would have the effect of reducing returns. Investors cannot invest directly in any index. The index performance does not represent the returns of any portfolio advised by Fred Alger Management, LLC and actual client results might differ materially than the indices shown. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Comparison to a different index might have materially different results than those shown.

The S&P indexes are a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates and has been licensed for use by Fred Alger Management, LLC and its affiliates. Copyright 2023 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a subsidiary of S&P Global Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Redistribution or reproduction in whole or in part are prohibited without written permission of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. For more information on any of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC’s indices please visitwww.spdji.com. S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, their affiliates nor their third party licensors make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the ability of any index to accurately represent the asset class or market sector that it purports to represent and neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, their affiliates nor their third party licensors shall have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of any index or the data included therein.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the United States Department of Commerce is a U.S. government agency that provides official macroeconomic and industry statistics, most notably reports about the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States and its various units—states, cities/towns/townships/villages/counties, and metropolitan areas.

1 Bank of America and Alger estimates. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-11/bull-market-exposes-old-school-accounting-rules-penalizing-r-d

Price-to-earnings is the ratio for valuing a company that measures its current share price relative to its earnings per share

Earnings per share (EPS) is calculated as a company’s profit divided by the outstanding shares of its common stock.
​Alger pays compensation to third party marketers to sell various strategies to prospective investors.​

Fre​d Alger & Company, LLC 100 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10004 / www.alger.com​​ ​/ 800.305.8547 (Retail) / 800.223.3810 (Institutional)​


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ETF Investors

This ETF is different from traditional ETFs.

Traditional ETFs tell the public what assets they hold each day. This ETF will not. This may create additional risks for your investment. Specifically:

You may have to pay more money to trade the ETF’s shares. This ETF will provide less information to traders, who tend to charge more for trades when they have less information.

The price you pay to buy ETF shares on an exchange may not match the value of the ETF’s portfolio. The same is true when you sell shares. These price differences may be greater for this ETF compared to other ETFs because it provides less information to traders.

These additional risks may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions.

The differences between this ETF and other ETFs may also have advantages. By keeping certain information about the ETF confidential, this ETF may face less risk that other traders can predict or copy its investment strategy. This may improve the ETF’s performance. If other traders are able to copy or predict the ETF’s investment strategy, however, this may hurt the ETF’s performance. For additional information regarding the unique attributes and risks of this ETF, please refer to the prospectus.

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