Inspire's Biblical ETF [NYSE: BLES] Exceeds Secular Benchmarks

SAN JOSE, Calif., October 15, 2019 (Newswire.com) - The Inspire Global Hope ETF [NYSE: BLES], a $150M flagship exchange-traded fund (ETF) from biblically responsible asset management firm Inspire Investing, outperformed its secular benchmark, the MSCI ACWI Equal-Weight Index, on both year-to-date and since inception returns as of September 30th.

BLES has returned 16.70% year-to-date as of the end of the third quarter, nearly doubling the 8.37% year-to-date returns of its MSCI ACWI Equal Weight benchmark. Since inception on Feb. 28, 2017, BLES has delivered 6.62% annualized returns – three times that of the 2.19% annualized returns of the MSCI ACWI Equal Weight benchmark during that same timeframe. BLES is also outperforming the benchmark on the 1-year number by 4.7%. BLES is up 1.07% while the MSCI ACWI Equal Weight benchmark is down -3.63%, as of September 30, 2019.¹

The stellar performance of BLES bolsters our confidence that biblical values and good returns are not mutually exclusive. BLES has shown the world that Inspire's approach to investing in the most inspiring, biblically aligned companies in the world has yielded better returns than it's secular benchmark.

Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing

“The stellar performance of BLES bolsters our confidence that biblical values and good returns are not mutually exclusive,” said Robert Netzly, CEO of Inspire Investing. “BLES has shown the world that Inspire’s approach to investing in the most inspiring, biblically aligned companies in the world has yielded better returns than its secular benchmark.”

(Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The performance data quoted here represents past performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted above. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate, so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Inspire Funds are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. To obtain performance data current to the most recent month-end, please call 877.658.9473, or visit www.inspireetf.com.)

New WWJD Fund Launch Inspired by BLES Success

The success of BLES has “inspired” the launch of Inspire’s newest ETF, the Inspire International ESG ETF which trades under the ticker WWJD, the popular Christian acronym for “What Would Jesus Do”. WWJD is a carve-out of the non-US constituents of BLES and gives investors a way to pinpoint biblically aligned large-cap companies from international developed and emerging markets, areas where much of BLES outperformance is attributed.

“The international and emerging markets components of BLES have done particularly well and are the main drivers of BLES outperformance,” commented Darrell Jayroe, Inspire’s CIO and senior portfolio manager of BLES. “Now with WWJD, investors can buy a portfolio focused on these companies which have been quality positions in BLES.”

The Inspire International ESG ETF invests in 150 of the most inspiring, biblically aligned large-cap companies outside of the United States with an expense ratio of 0.80%. Under normal circumstances, the fund will be comprised of 80% international developed large-cap companies and 20% emerging markets large-cap companies. Inspire defines “large-cap” as a market capitalization of $5B USD or greater. The fund is equally weighted and rebalanced quarterly.

About Inspire Global Hope ETF [NYSE: BLES]

The Inspire Global Hope ETF [NYSE: BLES] seeks to replicate investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Inspire Global Hope Large Cap Index. BLES invests on a global scale, searching out inspiring, biblically aligned large companies ($5B+ market cap) from both the U.S. and around the world. BLES targets a geographic composition of 50% United States, 40% developed international and 10% emerging markets. BLES is equally-weighted, rebalanced quarterly and designed as a core equity holding.

BLES was nominated as a finalist for “Best New ESG ETF - 2017” in the ETF.com & Inside ETFs Industry Awards and registered net assets over $150M as of September 30th, 2019.

Inspire’s Data-Driven Approach To Biblically Responsible Investing

At the center of Inspire’s approach to biblically responsible investing is their proprietary Inspire Impact Score methodology. Inspire Impact Scores allow investors to easily identify how aligned or how opposed a company (or portfolio of companies, like a mutual fund or ETF) is to biblical values.

Using a wealth of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data from some of the most respected data providers in the world, Inspire analyzes companies from the bottom-up with a rules-based, methodology driven process through the lens of a biblical values worldview.

The result of this objective, data-focused process is an Inspire Impact Score that ranges from -100 to +100, with scores closest to +100 representing greater alignment with biblical values. Inspire invests in those companies closest to +100 and never invests in companies with scores lower than zero in any of their strategies.

Inspire recently released a free online tool at www.inspireinsight.com that allows investors to look up the Inspire Impact Score of more than 25,000 stocks, mutual funds and ETFs to investigate the good, bad and ugly of what their portfolio is invested in from a values perspective, quickly and easily with a simple ticker symbol search.

Inspire’s Rapid Growth

Registering over $600M in assets under management as of September 30th, Inspire Investing has grown to be a global leader in the faith-based, biblically responsible investing (BRI) movement. They were ranked as the 8th fastest growing firm in Financial Advisor Magazine’s (FA) 2019 “RIA Ranking” report, marking the third consecutive year that Inspire has been recognized in the RIA Ranking of fastest-growing firms.

FA’s 2019 RIA Survey and Ranking report is an annual survey that ranks firms based on percentage growth in assets from the previous calendar year and is the premier industry ranking of independent RIA growth. Financial Advisor Magazine is a major publication targeted to financial professionals that aims to deliver essential market information and strategies to help advisors better serve their clients and grow their firms.

Inspiring Transformation Around The World

Not only does Inspire Investing seek to invest in the most inspiring companies in the world, but they also aim to be one of the most inspiring companies in the world. As such, Inspire donates 50% or more of their corporate profits to Christian ministry every year. Most recently Inspire adopted a village in the coffee farming mountains of Guatemala and is working to provide a church building, clean water, improved education, a fully functional medical clinic, and child sponsorship to completely transform the lives of those living in that impoverished village. Learn more at www.inspireinvesting.com/impact.

For more information on Inspire Investing, please visit: www.inspireinvesting.com

For media inquiries or interview requests, contact: [email protected]

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About Inspire Investing
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in the Silicon Valley of California, Inspire Investing seeks to create meaningful impact in the lives of people across the globe by providing index-based, biblically aligned investments that support Christian ministry and is a leading authority in the Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) movement. For more information, visit www.inspireinvesting.com.

* Disclaimer: Investment advisory services offered through CWM Advisors, LLC dba Inspire, a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC.

Media contact:
Eric Smyth
(831) 382-6572
[email protected]

¹ Past performance is no guarantee of future results. The performance data quoted here represents past performance. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted above. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate, so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Inspire Funds are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemed from the fund. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. (Fund operating expenses are 0.62% gross/0.61% net for BLES and 0.80% for WWJD.)

Important Risk Information: Inspire, the adviser, provides the index for the Inspire ETFs to track. The indexes use software that analyzes publicly available data relating to the primary business activities, products and services, philanthropy, legal activities, policies and practices when assigning Inspire Impact Scores to a company. The securities with the highest Inspire Impact Scores are included in the Indexes and are equally or market cap weighted. As the Fund may not fully replicate the Index, it is subject to the risk that investment management strategy may not produce the intended results.

The Inspire ETFs are new with a limited history of operations for investors to evaluate. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve its objective, generate positive returns, or avoid losses.

Securities in the Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general securities markets or other asset classes. The Fund may focus its investments in securities of a particular industry to the extent the Index does. This may cause the Fund’s net asset value to fluctuate more than that of a fund that does not focus on a particular industry. Fluctuations in the value of equity securities held by the Fund will cause the net asset value (“NAV”) of the Fund to fluctuate.

Investments in foreign securities could subject the Fund to greater risks including, currency fluctuation, economic conditions, and different governmental and accounting standards.

The Fund is not actively managed and the Adviser will not sell shares of an equity security due to current or projected underperformance of a security, industry or sector, unless that security is removed from the Index or the selling of shares of that security is otherwise required upon a rebalancing of the Index as addressed in the Index methodology. Tracking error may occur because of imperfect correlation between the Fund’s holdings of portfolio securities and those in the Index. The Fund’s use of a representative sampling approach, if used, could result in its holding a smaller number of securities than are in the Index. To the extent the assets in the Fund are smaller, these risks will be greater.

Before investing, consider the fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. To obtain a prospectus which contains this and other information, call 877.658.9473, or visit www.inspireetf.com. Read it carefully. The Inspire ETFs are distributed by Northern Lights Distributors, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC. Inspire and Northern Lights Distributors, LLC are not affiliated. 3745-NLD-10/08/2019

Source: Inspire Investing