In a market where passive investing often holds sway, a select few actively managed ETFs have well outperformed their respective benchmarks this year. The following 15 exchange-traded funds across various sectors worldwide have posted returns exceeding their benchmarks by more than 15 percentage points over the year to date, despite the uncertainty hovering over global financial markets. This means their returns have far exceeded their passively managed counterparts. CNBC Pro screened more than 1,000 ETFs listed worldwide for which benchmark data is available through FactSet. The benchmarks are described by FactSet as “a neutral, broad market index that best represents an ETF’s segment, giving investors a measuring stick against which to compare a specific ETF.” South Korean asset manager Timefolio’s Carbon Neutral Active ETF delivered the biggest alpha (the difference between the benchmark and the fund’s total returns). The fund is up 81% this year and has beaten the broader MSCI Korea IMI index by 59 percentage points, according to Factset data. The ETF invests in companies engaged in lowering carbon emissions across the country’s economy. The fund’s focus on high-growth stocks and profitable secondary battery-makers helped it to achieve significant returns. Meet Kevin Pricing Power ETF was the third best-performing fund on CNBC Pro’s screen. The fund is up 63% this year in total returns and has beaten the benchmark MSCI USA IMI index by more than 44 percentage points over the same period. Lead fund manager Kevin Paffrath, who’s also known for his YouTube videos, invests only in U.S.-listed companies with “pricing power versus their peers.” PP YTD mountain
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