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SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

September 15, 2023

 

MarketDesk Focused U.S. Dividend ETF

Ticker Symbol: FDIV

Listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market, LLC®

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the statutory prospectus (the “Prospectus”), which contains more information about the MarketDesk Focused U.S. Dividend ETF (the “Fund”) and its risks. You can find the Fund’s Prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the Fund, including the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information, online at www.marketdeskindices.com. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 215-882-9983. The current Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated September 15, 2023 are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

 

MarketDesk Focused U.S. Dividend ETF

 

Fund Summary

 

Investment Objective

 

The MarketDesk Focused U.S. Dividend ETF (the “Fund”) seeks capital appreciation with a higher dividend yield compared to a broad-based index of U.S. large-cap dividend paying securities.

 

Fees And Expenses

 

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund (“Shares”). You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of Shares, which are not reflected in the table or example below.

 

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fee1   0.35 %
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees   None  
Other Expenses2   0.00 %
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses   0.35 %

 

1 The Fund’s investment advisory agreement provides that the Fund’s investment adviser will pay substantially all expenses of the Fund, except for the fee payment under the Fund’s Investment Advisory Agreement, payments under the Fund’s Rule 12b-1 Distribution and Service Plan, brokerage expenses, acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes, interest (including borrowing costs), litigation expense and other non-routine or extraordinary expenses. Additionally, the Fund shall be responsible for its non-operating expenses and fees and expenses associated with the Fund’s securities lending program, if applicable.
2 Other Expenses are estimated for the current fiscal year.

 

Example

 

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that the Fund provides a return of 5% a year and that operating expenses remain the same. You may also pay brokerage commissions on the purchase and sale of Shares, which are not reflected in the example. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

  One Year: Three Years:  
  $36 $113  

 

 

 

 

Portfolio Turnover

 

The Fund may pay transaction costs, including commissions when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund has not yet commenced operations and portfolio turnover data therefore is not available.

  

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

 

The Fund’s Investment Strategy

 

The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) that is sub-advised by MarketDesk Indices LLC (“Sub-Adviser”). The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowing for investment purposes, in a portfolio of U.S. companies that pay dividends and expect to grow the dividend over time.

 

The Sub-Adviser employs a multi-step, quantitative, rules-based methodology to identify a portfolio of approximately 60 to 80 U.S. equity securities that pay dividends and have the potential for capital appreciation. A security is considered to have the potential for capital appreciation when it trades at a price below the price at which the Sub-Adviser believes it would trade if the market reflected all factors relating to the company’s worth.

 

The Sub-Adviser first screens securities for inclusion in the “Investment Universe.” The Investment Universe is exclusively comprised of U.S. equity securities with a market capitalization of greater than $1 billion and that are listed on a U.S. exchange.

 

The Sub-Adviser excludes the following types of securities from the Investment Universe: (i) real estate investment trusts, (ii) companies whose indicated annual dividend yield is less than 1.75%, (iii) companies whose average daily traded volume is less than $25 million over the last three months, and (iv) companies whose free float is less than 40% of market capitalization. The resulting universe is composed primarily of highly liquid, large- and mid-cap stocks with high dividend yields. The Sub-Adviser then employs quality screens based on financial statement metrics, such as return on equity and cash flow to debt, to isolate companies with a high degree of financial health. Companies with low quality characteristics based on financial statement metrics, such as low returns on equity or low cash flow to debt, are excluded from the Investment Universe.

 

The Sub-Adviser then employs a screen to review each company’s dividend payment history, growth, and consistency over the past 5-year period to identify attractive dividend-paying companies. Attractive dividend-paying companies are defined as companies with a consistent history of paying and/or growing dividends. The Sub-Adviser calculates a company’s indicated annual dividend by annualizing the latest regular cash dividend to project the anticipated dividend income for the next 12 months. After employing the aforementioned screens, the result is a portfolio of approximately 60-80 stocks for inclusion in the Fund. 

 

The Sub-Adviser will repeat the multi-step process and reallocate the Fund’s portfolio on a monthly basis.

 

Principal Risks

 

An investment in the Fund involves risk, including those described below. There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. An investor may lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any government agency. More complete risk descriptions are set forth below under the heading “Additional Information About the Fund’s Principal Risks”.

 

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Large Capitalization Companies Risk. Large-capitalization companies may trail the returns of the overall stock market. Large-capitalization stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better – or worse – than the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years. When large capitalization companies are out of favor, these securities may lose value or may not appreciate in line with the overall market. In addition, large capitalization companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive challenges, such as changes in technology or consumer tastes, and also may not be able to attain the high growth rate of successful small companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion.

 

Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. Investing in securities of mid-capitalization companies involves greater risk than customarily is associated with investing in larger, more established companies. These companies’ securities may be more volatile and less liquid than those of more established companies. Often mid-capitalization companies and the industries in which they focus are still evolving and, as a result, they may be more sensitive to changing market conditions.

 

Dividend-Paying Common Equity Security Risk. In selecting common equity securities in which the Fund will invest, the Sub-Adviser will consider the issuer’s history of paying regular periodic dividends to its common equity holders. Such dividends are not fixed but are paid periodically at the discretion of the issuer’s board of directors. Companies that have historically paid dividends are not required to continue to pay dividends and could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future.

 

Investment Risk. When you sell your Shares of the Fund, they could be worth less than what you paid for them. The Fund could lose money due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during market downturns. Securities may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally or particular asset classes or industries represented in the markets. The value of a security may decline due to general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or to factors that affect a particular industry or group of industries. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Therefore, you may lose money by investing in the Fund.

 

Equity Investing Risk. An investment in the Fund involves risks similar to those of investing in any fund holding equity securities, such as market fluctuations, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in stock prices. The values of equity securities could decline generally or could underperform other investments. In addition, securities may decline in value due to factors affecting a specific issuer, market or securities markets generally.

 

Value Investing Risk. The Sub-Adviser may be wrong in its assessment of a company’s value, and the stocks the Fund owns may not reach what the Sub-Adviser believes are their true or intrinsic values. The market may not favor value-oriented stocks and may not favor equities at all, which may cause the Fund’s relative performance to suffer. There may be periods during which the Fund is unable to find securities that meet its value investment criteria.

 

ETF Risks.

 

  Authorized Participants, Market Makers and Liquidity Providers Concentration Risk. The Fund has a limited number of financial institutions that may act as Authorized Participants (“APs”). In addition, there may be a limited number of market makers and/or liquidity providers in the marketplace. To the extent either of the following events occur, Fund Shares may trade at a material discount to NAV and possibly face delisting: (i) APs exit the business or otherwise become unable to process creation and/or redemption orders and no other APs step forward to perform these services, or (ii) market makers and/or liquidity providers exit the business or significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform their functions.

 

  Premium-Discount Risk. The Shares may trade above or below their net asset value (“NAV”). The market prices of Shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of, and demand for, Shares on The Nasdaq Stock Market® (the “Exchange”) or other securities exchanges. The trading price of Shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility or limited trading activity in Shares.

 

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  Cost of Trading Risk. Investors buying or selling Shares in the secondary market will pay brokerage commissions or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. Brokerage commissions are often a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell relatively small amounts of Shares. In addition, secondary market investors will also incur the cost of the difference between the price that an investor is willing to pay for Shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which an investor is willing to sell Shares (the “ask” price). This difference in bid and ask prices is often referred to as the “spread” or “bid/ask spread.” The bid/ask spread varies over time for Shares based on trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund’s Shares have more trading volume and market liquidity and higher if the Fund’s Shares have little trading volume and market liquidity. Further, increased market volatility may cause increased bid/ask spreads.

 

  Trading Risk. Although the Shares are listed on the Exchange, there can be no assurance that an active or liquid trading market for them will develop or be maintained. In addition, trading in Shares on the Exchange may be halted. In stressed market conditions, the liquidity of the Fund’s Shares may begin to mirror the liquidity of its underlying portfolio holdings, which can be less liquid than the Fund’s Shares, potentially causing the market price of the Fund’s Shares to deviate from its NAV.

 

Sector Risk. Companies with similar characteristics may be grouped together into broad categories called sectors. A certain sector may underperform other sectors or the market as a whole. As the Sub-Adviser allocates more of the Fund’s portfolio holdings to a particular sector, the Fund’s performance will be more susceptible to any economic, business or other developments which generally affect that sector.

 

Periodic Reallocation Risk. Because the Sub-Adviser will generally reallocate the Fund’s portfolio only on a monthly basis, (i) the Fund’s market exposure may be affected by significant market movements promptly following the monthly reconstitution that are not predictive of the market’s performance for the subsequent monthly period and (ii) changes to the Fund’s market exposure may lag a significant change in the market’s direction (up or down) by as long as a month if such changes first take effect promptly following the monthly reconstitution. Such lags between market performance and changes to the Fund’s exposure may result in significant underperformance relative to the broader equity or fixed income market.

 

Operational and Model Risk. The Sub-Adviser uses a statistical, evidence-based approach including statistical analyses and models and historical information to select investments for the Fund. Any imperfections, errors or limitations in the models or analyses may cause the resulting information to be incorrect and therefore any decisions made in reliance on such models or analyses could expose the Fund to potential risks. In addition, the models and portfolio construction rules used by the Sub-Adviser assume that certain historical statistical relationships will continue. These models are constructed based on historical data supplied by third parties and, as a result, the success of relying on such models may depend heavily on the accuracy and reliability of the supplied historical data.

 

Management Risk. The Fund is actively-managed and may not meet its investment objective based on the Adviser’s or Sub-Adviser’s success or failure to implement investment strategies for the Fund. The success of the Fund’s investment program depends largely on the investment techniques and risk analyses applied by the Sub-Adviser, including the use of quantitative models or methods. It is possible the investment techniques and risk analyses employed on behalf of the Fund will not produce the desired results.

 

New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors have no track record or history on which to base their investment decision. There can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size.

 

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New Sub-Adviser Risk. Although the Sub-Adviser’s principals and the Fund’s portfolio managers have experience managing investments in the past, the Sub-Adviser has no experience managing investments for an ETF, which may limit the Sub-Adviser’s effectiveness.

 

Geopolitical/Natural Disaster Risks. The Fund’s investments are subject to geopolitical and natural disaster risks, such as war, terrorism, trade disputes, political or economic dysfunction within some nations, public health crises and related geopolitical events, as well as environmental disasters, epidemics and/or pandemics, which may add to instability in world economies and volatility in markets. The impact may be short-term or may last for extended periods.

 

PERFORMANCE

 

Performance information is not provided below because the Fund has not yet been in operation for a full calendar year. When provided, the information will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund’s average annual returns compare with a broad measure of market performance. Past performance does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. Performance information is available on the Fund’s website at www.marketdeskindices.com or by calling the Fund at (215) 882-9983.

 

Investment Adviser

 

Investment Adviser: Empowered Funds, LLC dba EA Advisers (“Adviser”)
Investment Sub-Adviser: MarketDesk Indices LLC (“Sub-Adviser”)

 

Portfolio Managers

 

Jonathon S. Clements, Portfolio Manager of the Sub-Adviser, has been primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund since its inception.

 

Matthew J. Clements, Portfolio Manager of the Sub-Adviser, has been primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund since its inception.

 

Summary Information about Purchases, Sales, Taxes, and Financial Intermediary Compensation

 

Purchase And Sale Of Fund Shares

 

The Fund issues and redeems Shares on a continuous basis only in large blocks of Shares, typically 10,000 Shares, called “Creation Units,” and only APs (typically, broker-dealers) may purchase or redeem Creation Units. Creation Units generally are issued and redeemed ‘in-kind’ for securities and partially in cash. Individual Shares may only be purchased and sold in secondary market transactions through brokers. Once created, individual Shares generally trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day. Market prices of Shares may be greater or less than their NAV. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, the Fund’s shares are not redeemable securities.

 

Tax Information

 

The Fund’s distributions generally are taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gain, or some combination of both, unless your investment is in an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) or other tax-advantaged account. However, subsequent withdrawals from such a tax-advantaged account may be subject to U.S. federal income tax. You should consult your own tax advisor about your specific tax situation.

 

Purchases Through Broker-Dealers And Other Financial Intermediaries

 

If you purchase Shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary, the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend Shares over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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