Keep your S&P 500 exposure. Enhance its return potential.
Passive vs active: two ways to hold the S&P 500
Passive gets you the market. PQUS seeks more from it, without introducing more risk.
Passive S&P 500
- Replicates index
- Market return
- No active risk
- Passive implementation
PQUS
- Active stock selection
- Seeks additional return potential
- Low tracking-error approach
- Enhanced-index implementation
Why consider PQUS
Four reasons to carve out part of that allocation for PQUS
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01 Keep familiar market exposure
Stays closely aligned with the S&P 500 while taking active stock positions to potentially enhance returns.
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02 Seek additional return potential
Stays closely aligned with the S&P 500 while taking active stock positions to potentially enhance returns.
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03 Avoid unintended style bets
Returns are designed to come from stock selection, not persistent exposure to value, momentum, quality or other style factors.
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04 Access active management efficiently
A cost-effective ETF wrapper running a strategy honed with institutional investors.
Why use AI to select stocks
PQUS is not an AI-themed ETF. AI is the stock selection engine.
The strategy uses a proprietary machine-learning model to forecast stock-specific returns over a one-month horizon.
The model evaluates hundreds of company, market and behavioural signals simultaneously, helping identify opportunities that can be difficult to detect using traditional approaches.
F = False, T= True.
What sets our model apart
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01 Built over a decade of research
Our machine-learning model reflects more than 10 years of research and development.
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02 Stock-specific, factor-neutral alpha
The strategy seeks to generate returns through stock selection while neutralising common factor exposures.
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03 No black box
Every forecast is attributed to underlying drivers, so you can see why a position is there.
Built by an established quantitative team
PQUS is managed by Pictet’s established quantitative team, built for institutional investors and experienced in systematic portfolio management well before AI became a marketing theme.
- Managing quantitative portfolios since: 1999
- Investment professionals: 23
- 80% of investment team hold PhD in scientific fields
- Average industry experience: 16+ years
- Published research on machine learning and investing
Watch: How we invest with AI
David Wright, our Head of Quantitative Investments, discusses the use of AI in quant investing and our model with Dave Nadig, President and Director of Research at ETF.com. ©Future Proof Citywide
How clients use PQUS
RIAs hold PQUS alongside their core S&P 500 position, typically in one of three ways:
- A core enhanced-index alternative to passive exposure.
- A cost-effective consistent active allocation.
- Diversification away from traditional factor approaches.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
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What is PQUS?
PQUS is the Pictet AI Enhanced US Equity ETF, an actively managed enhanced-index strategy. It invests across the US equity market, using an AI-driven stock-selection model to seek consistent alpha while keeping portfolio characteristics closely aligned with the S&P 500.
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Is PQUS an AI-themed ETF?
No. PQUS does not invest exclusively in AI companies and is not a bet on the AI theme. AI is the engine used to select stocks, not the investment destination. The fund's holdings reflect the broad US equity market, weighted toward stocks the model identifies as attractive.
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How is PQUS different from passive S&P 500 ETFs?
A passive S&P 500 ETF simply replicates the index. PQUS takes active, AI-driven stock positions and seeks to outperform the S&P 500, net of fees, while maintaining a low tracking error.
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How is PQUS different from smart beta?
Smart beta strategies typically take persistent, rules-based exposures to factors such as value, momentum or quality. PQUS is designed to be factor-neutral: its returns are intended to come from stock-specific selection rather than a structural tilt toward any one factor.