Buy Hold Sell: 5 of your top-tipped ASX-listed ETFs put to the test

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Edited transcript

Tom Stelzer: Hello and welcome to Livewire's Buy Hold Sell. I'm Tom Stelzer. Late last year, we asked you for your top ETF picks for 2026, and joining me today are Daniel Kelly from Viola Private Wealth and Adam Dawes from Shaw and Partners to give their verdicts on some of your most-tipped ETFs and share a pick of their own. Guys, thanks for joining us.

1. VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL) 

Tom Stelzer: Daniel, I'll start with you. The first cab off the rank is the VanEck International Quality ETF, ticker code QUAL. Is that a buy, hold, or sell for you, and why?

Daniel Kelly: (SELL) I have this as a sell just because I prefer to kind of play quality in a different way. So if you actually have a look at the holdings of this, it's all tech companies, which you wouldn't traditionally think as kind of that segment of the portfolio. So I'd prefer to split out more value and deep value traditional businesses from your tech exposures just because it kind of is a little bit of a confused construction that the ETF has. And it makes it a bit difficult for an individual investor to control each of those sleeves, because it's all bundled into the one. That being said, I think it will do plenty well. Just prefer it in a portfolio in a construction context to kind of split those out.

Tom Stelzer: So it's a sell from Daniel. Adam, buy, hold, sell on QUAL?

Adam Dawes: (BUY) I'm going to disagree with Daniel. Another commentator has said this is one ETF to rule all the ETFs. So basically, it is a quality filter. So they look at high return on equity, low debt, and all of those filters that go in that you want to see inside of a business and then they've put them all together. 

However, I do prefer at the moment the QHAL (ASX: QHAL), which is the hedged version of it. We have seen obviously the Aussie dollar continue to rise, the US dollar falling, and that has hurt a lot of our international holdings going forward. So having a bit of a hedged version inside of there, I think it does work.

But certainly, QUAL, if we do get any kind of market correction, that's kind of the time. And I think I agree with Daniel on that, that it's a bit higher risk at the moment. But if we do get a bit of a correction, I think that's certainly something that you should have in the portfolio.

2. Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK) 

Tom Stelzer: I'll stay with you, Adam. The next one up is the Betashares Global Cybersecurity ETF, ticker code HACK. Is that a buy, hold, or sell?

Adam Dawes: (HOLD) Look, it's probably a hold from me. It's actually been really beaten down. So it actually looks like it's now starting to come back into range for me. I think overall, HACK is cybersecurity, and I think certainly that is something that you need to have some kind of exposure in the portfolio. I don't know if it hits the mark fully for me to put on a buy, but it has come back in price. But no, it's definitely a hold for me. If you've got it in the portfolio, happy for it, stay there.

Tom Stelzer: Daniel, what about you? Buy, hold, or sell on HACK?

Daniel Kelly: (BUY) I've got this as a buy. I think that with the increased adoption of artificial intelligence in ways that we didn't foresee 5 or 10 years ago, there's going to be so many cybersecurity needs that the world now has that it didn't previously realise that it had. The humanoid robots are a really good example of that. You need solid protections around that so that it can't be hacked and taken over. So I think that it's also an attractive entry point, like Adam said, it's been kind of hit with the rest of global tech. So I'm a buy on this one.

3. Vanguard Australian Shares High Yield ETF (ASX: VHY) 

Tom Stelzer: Daniel, I'll stay with you moving a bit more locally, it's the Vanguard Australian Shares high yield ETF, ticker code VHY. Is that a buy, hold, or sell?

Daniel Kelly: (HOLD) I'll go a hold on this. We're benefiting from our materials and resources sector materially. I just think that Australia's dominated by sectors that aren't going to change the world. And we're a little bit old-fashioned with our banks and mining companies. So good yield coming off those businesses, resilient and countercyclical compared to what the rest of the world is doing. But I'd prefer to have my money in some other more innovative ETFs for the next 15 years.

Tom Stelzer: Adam, what about you, buy, hold, or sell?

Adam Dawes: (BUY) Yeah, it's going to be a buy from me. It is very good and it's a great dividend yield ETF, so it holds its own. Though they do have to sell stock to ... It's like a dividend stripping kind of thing. They have to hold the stock, then they sell it to keep that high yield going forward, which does sometimes create a little bit of destruction of capital when potentially you should just be holding these things for the longer term.

But VHY, you got to know what's on the tin. It's a high yield one. They're able to do that and that's part of that strategy for them. So, yeah, this is the kind of stock that you do have for those semi-retired or retired clients that are looking for a higher yield and really much continuing with that index play as well. So it's a buy for me.

4. Global X Copper Miners ETF (ASX: WIRE) 

Tom Stelzer: I'll stay with you, Adam. This one, a bit more of a thematic. It's the Global X Copper Miners ETF, ticker code WIRE, buy, hold, or sell?

Adam Dawes: (BUY) I love it. Buy. Bring it on. Absolutely. No, it's certainly one of those ones that I think we know that electrification is going to happen and is going to continue to happen. There's plenty of information out there that is saying that copper is in deficit. And in fact, they haven't really made any new copper mines in the last 5 to 10 years either. And I actually heard a story the other day that the Chinese are now stockpiling copper like gold bars, but they're doing copper bars. So it's really turning the corner as far as the metal and the precious metal side of things. Great conductor of electricity. It's used everywhere, so it's a buy from me.

Tom Stelzer: Daniel, buy, hold, sell on WIRE?

Daniel Kelly: (SELL) It depends on your timeframe with this one. I think over the really long term, Adam's absolutely correct. Copper's going to be a key input into everything that we need to do from an electrification perspective. I'm going to go sell on this one. Goldman Sachs and Macquarie both agree that copper's looking a little bit toppy at the moment, so be careful of your entry price at the moment. And it's up, as Adam said, 90 odd percent over the last 12 months, so I'd be banking those gains and maybe going into something a little less concentrated on one particular metal.

5. iShares Global 100 ETF (ASX: IOO) 

Tom Stelzer: And finally, we have the iShares Global 100 ETF, ticker code IOO, buy, hold, or sell?

Daniel Kelly: (BUY) Yeah, buy. You can't really lose with this. This is essentially all of the biggest businesses in the world from a market cap perspective. This is kind of your buy, put in the bottom drawer and sleep well at night for the next two decades. I do prefer to play individual geographies, but if someone's looking for an all-in ETF that just solves their global equity allocation, this is a good one for that.

Tom Stelzer: Adam, what about you, buy, hold, sell?

Adam Dawes: (BUY) We're going to stay on the same line. It's one of those core staple portfolio ETF stocks that I put into everybody's portfolio as part of a great way to diversify. But top 100 global market cap, I mean, it's just been fantastic. There is a hedge version as well. So again, let's just worry that currency's a bit of a concern at the moment. So you can play the hedge version of that as well, but certainly IOO is one of those ones that I have 5% weighting in all clients' portfolios, so it's a buy.

Guest picks

Tom Stelzer: We also asked our guests to bring their pick for an ETF in 2026. Adam, I'll come back to you. What's your pick?

6. Betashares S&P/ASX Australian Technology ETF (ASX: ATEC) 

Adam Dawes: My pick was ATEC. This one is a technology ETF. We know here in Australia, we don't have a fantastic technology sector. I mean, to be honest, there's no Google or there's no Microsoft or there's no-

Daniel Kelly: We have Afterpay, though.

Adam Dawes: We do. We do have Afterpay, we've got Xero ... We've got some of those, but they've all been beaten down. Life360...some of these are really good, fantastic technology stocks.

I think ATEC is one of those ones that you can put in the bottom drawer. You're not trying to pick one that's going to be the winner. I think this market is seeing value in the technology space at the moment. And I think certainly something like that, ATEC is a great, broader exposure that you can get put into client's portfolio and I think you should do okay on it, so it's a buy.

7. L1 Long Short Fund Limited (ASX: LSF) 

Tom Stelzer: So it's Aussie tech from Adam. Daniel, what about you?

Daniel Kelly: I've got something completely different. I've gone LSF. Hedge funds find it really difficult to create alpha in static markets. I think one thing we can all agree on is that with Donald Trump in the presidency, volatility is assumed, right? So it's a good environment for global macro funds, multi-strat funds and long-short funds. LSF, I would argue, is our best hedge fund that Australia has to offer, and you can get it via an ETF at a really low cost. So I think I'm bullish on LSF over the next 12 to 18, or whenever Trump gets out of the presidency, I'm bullish on LSF.

Tom Stelzer: That's all for this episode. Thanks for tuning in and thanks to Daniel and Adam. Make sure to check out our YouTube channel for more Buy Hold Sell.