With rising questions over whether tech giants are entering a natural maturation phase—where growth decelerates, scale sets limits, and they begin to resemble digital utilities, the WisdomTree U.S. Quality Growth Fund (ticker: QGRW) offers a focused, fundamentals-driven alternative for advisors seeking high-conviction exposure to the growth side of the style box. Combining forward-looking earnings potential with disciplined quality screens, QGRW aims to deliver a curated portfolio of large U.S. companies positioned to thrive in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and innovation across sectors.
In an interview with The Wealth Advisor’s Scott Martin, Christopher Gannatti, Global Head of Research at WisdomTree, discussed how QGRW leverages a data-driven methodology to identify firms with strong profitability and growth outlooks—often aligning with today’s most exciting trends in AI and next-generation tech.
Not Just Growth but Durable Growth
Rather than relying on popularity or simple market-cap inclusion, QGRW takes a structured approach that tilts toward companies with both compelling quality—defined as high returns on both equity and assets—and strong growth—that is, forward-looking earnings growth expectations.
The strategy seeks to track the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the WisdomTree U.S. Quality Growth Index, a market-cap-weighted index that comprises 100 U.S. companies with the highest composite scores based on these quality and growth factors, equally weighted.
“Our thought was: If what people are really looking for is this combination of growth and quality, when you combine the two,” Gannatti says, “you’re ultimately saying, What are our best companies that not only look like they’re growing now but have the potential to look like they’re continuing to grow into the future?”
WisdomTree’s disciplined methodology means the portfolio captures not just the headline-makers of the AI era—names like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Meta—but also high-performing firms in unexpected sectors like healthcare and financial services. QGRW’s broader lens is critical, especially as rapidly adapting technology such as AI influences industries far beyond Silicon Valley.
Why It’s Not Just Another Tech Fund
QGRW may share overlap with indexes such as the Nasdaq-100, but its screening process results in a very different—and potentially more refined—portfolio. “All [the Nasdaq-100] is doing is finding the biggest 100 stocks that are listed on the Nasdaq outside of the financial segment of the market,” Gannatti says. “Everyone assumes it’s a tech index, but there’s nothing in the methodology that forces it to be a tech index.”
QGRW instead reflects WisdomTree’s view that quality and growth should be the primary selection criteria, not listing exchange or sector membership. That allows the strategy to capture growth opportunities across the entire large-cap U.S. market, even in areas like payment processing or pharmaceuticals.
“When people think of technology, they think of a very broad range of things,” Gannatti says. “Our thought is, if this AI mega trend plays out, you’re going to see AI proliferate across the whole spectrum of industries.”
By avoiding arbitrary sector exclusions, QGRW gives advisors a more complete growth picture—while still anchoring every selection in rigorous profitability and growth metrics. The fund’s sector-agnostic approach means it can identify quality growth wherever it emerges, whether in a traditional tech company developing AI chips or a healthcare firm leveraging machine learning for drug discovery. QGRW’s methodology creates opportunities to capture companies that might be overlooked by sector-specific strategies, particularly as AI adoption blurs traditional industry boundaries and creates new growth vectors across the economy.
“By and large, what we are able to do is recognize: where is the quality, where is the growth, where is the potential? And we can position the portfolio in those potential winners tomorrow,” Gannatti says.
The Role of AI and the Magnificent Seven
Much of today’s growth narrative centers on artificial intelligence, and QGRW is tilted toward companies leading the AI charge. “It just so happens that many of those companies are visible to drive the artificial intelligence revolution that we’re all seeing forward,” Gannatti notes.
But the strategy doesn’t simply chase headlines. It focuses on enduring metrics—strong returns on capital, high margins, and sustainable earnings growth trajectories. Nvidia’s rise from a $12 IPO in 1999 to today’s trillion-dollar valuation is one example of how long-term quality growth manifests over decades, not quarters. QGRW’s strategy isn’t fixated on buying the “buzz” companies but rather favors those that can compound earnings over time.
“People appreciate the fact that at a regular interval you’re able to say, these companies are in this strategy because their return on equity is relatively high, return on assets is high, the leverage is low, and the earnings growth expectation looking forward is relatively high,” Gannatti explains. “It’s not simply in there because the market cap is above a certain level and that’s it, and you wipe your hands and that’s done. That is not our approach at all.”
Instead of relying on size alone, QGRW selects companies based on tangible performance and future growth metrics. The approach captures growth backed by repeatable business models and balance sheet strength rather than short-term market narratives—an important distinction for advisors building resilient, long-term client portfolios.
Positioning QGRW in Client Portfolios
QGRW is positioned as a core U.S. growth investing solution that combines quality and growth factors, targeting large- to mid-cap companies with strong quality and growth characteristics. The fund targets growth allocations that emphasize profitability—a key differentiator in a market where growth strategies often sacrifice earnings quality for speculative metrics. “It’s really broad market growth,” Gannatti says. “Each company has the opportunity to prove that their metrics are strong enough.”
The strategy’s comprehensive approach opens the door for QGRW to function as more than a satellite position. Gannatti notes that advisors reviewing the strategy appreciate seeing “the strength over a multiplicity of periods going back to 2022” when evaluating QGRW’s track record.
From 2022 to 2025, growth equities—particularly those aligned with AI, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise software—have been dominant. QGRW’s methodology has kept it firmly in that leadership group while preserving an emphasis on durable fundamentals. As a result, the strategy may anchor a portfolio’s growth allocation while avoiding some of the structural pitfalls of traditional cap-weighted tech benchmarks.
WisdomTree’s Research-Led, Bespoke Approach
Another critical differentiator for QGRW is WisdomTree’s in-house research and index design. Rather than licensing third-party benchmarks, the firm builds its strategies from the ground up, tailoring them to investment objectives. “WisdomTree builds the specific indices, does research over a period of time which selection rules, which weighting rules make the most sense,” Gannatti says. “What you see is a fully bespoke investment strategy and innovative approach that you might [not] see in the standard market cap.”
The proprietary approach represents nearly two decades of ETF innovation since WisdomTree’s 2006 launch with 20 initial funds. The firm’s research team continuously refines QGRW’s methodology, testing how different combinations of quality metrics—return on equity, return on assets, leverage ratios—interact with forward earnings growth expectations to identify the most promising companies. Unlike passive strategies that simply track existing indexes, QGRW’s selection and weighting rules are actively designed to capture what WisdomTree believes are the most important drivers of sustainable growth.
The custom-built design gives WisdomTree the flexibility to respond to evolving market conditions while preserving a clear investment philosophy. When market dynamics shift—such as the recent AI boom reshaping growth expectations across sectors—QGRW’s methodology can adapt to capture new opportunities without abandoning its core focus on profitable, growing companies. This approach aims to ensure that QGRW remains focused on the right metrics—regardless of changing trends or temporary shifts in investor sentiment.
A Growth Strategy for the Future
After nearly 20 years in the ETF business, WisdomTree continues to innovate by prioritizing research, index precision, and long-term investor outcomes.
“It was June 16, 2006. That was day one, 20 funds were initially launched, and as we sit here in May to June of 2025, it’s an incredible journey,” Gannatti says.
QGRW reflects that two-decade legacy of research-driven innovation, combining WisdomTree’s commitment to quality with a forward-looking lens on where innovation and economic growth are heading next. With artificial intelligence reshaping industries and long-duration themes like cloud computing and digital transformation still accelerating, QGRW gives advisors a tool to access that growth—without sacrificing discipline.
For financial advisors looking to refresh growth allocations or align client portfolios with the future of innovation, QGRW offers a thoughtfully constructed strategy grounded in profitability, forward earnings, and sector-agnostic selection. It’s not a momentum play, and it’s not just another tech fund. It’s a strategy that targets the growth leaders of tomorrow—on purpose and with precision.
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Additional Resources
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Disclosures
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund before investing. For a prospectus or, if available, the summary prospectus containing this and other important information about the Fund, call 866.909.9473 or visit WisdomTree.com/investments. Read the prospectus or, if available, the summary prospectus carefully before investing.
There are risks associated with investing, including possible loss of principal. Growth stocks, as a group, may be out of favor with the market and underperform value stocks or the overall equity market. Growth stocks are generally more sensitive to market movements than other types of stocks. The Fund is non-diversified, as a result, changes in the market value of a single security could cause greater fluctuations in the value of Fund shares than would occur in a diversified fund. The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, its Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform its Index or take defensive positions in declining markets and the Index may not perform as intended. Please read the Fund’s prospectus for specific details regarding the Fund’s risk profile.
Chris Gannatti is a Registered Representative of Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
WisdomTree Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
