Are the US stock market’s 'Magnificent Seven' outdated? Wall Street rushes to launch MANGOS ETF

Wall Street is attaching a new label to the AI investment frenzy. Following the market buzz generated by SpaceX's public listing, a newly coined stock grouping dubbed "MANGOS" has quickly gained traction, with several ETF issuers rushing to file related fund applications. However, analysts caution that the investment rationale behind this naming game warrants closer scrutiny than its marketing appeal.

MANGOS is an acronym for Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Alphabet, OpenAI, and SpaceX. According to MarketWatch, the grouping drew immediate market attention after SpaceX completed its highly anticipated market debut last week, prompting several small ETF issuers to swiftly submit fund applications in an attempt to turn this concept into a tradable product.

However, both OpenAI and Anthropic remain private companies and are not yet publicly traded, and the related ETF applications are still pending approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The emergence of this new concept reflects market expectations of a shifting landscape in the distribution of AI-driven gains. Some investors believe that the beneficiaries of the AI boom are gradually expanding beyond chipmakers and cloud computing giants to include large private tech firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic, thereby challenging the market dominance of the 'Magnificent Seven.'

From FAANG to the 'Magnificent Seven' and now to MANGOS, the naming game continues to evolve.

Wall Street has long shown enthusiasm for branding baskets of tech stocks. In the 2010s, FAANG—Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google—was the hottest tech-stock label. Later, the 'Magnificent Seven' became synonymous with the AI-driven bull market. By late 2024, 'BATMANN' stocks were briefly seen as the market’s new pillar. With Trump’s second term underway, geopolitical considerations have since given rise to the 'TACO trade' and the 'NACHO trade.'

Now, MANGOS has become the latest vehicle for market narratives. The underlying logic is that as some members of the 'Magnificent Seven' begin to lose their luster, the market needs a new cohort of high-growth AI names to absorb capital inflows. Joseph Powers, Chief Investment Officer at RWA Wealth Partners, noted that some investors may be trimming their holdings in the 'Magnificent Seven' to make room for a new generation of high-growth AI companies.

Powers also pointed out that the nature of AI infrastructure investment is evolving. In the early stages of the AI boom, large tech firms could largely shoulder infrastructure costs themselves, giving them an edge over smaller rivals. But as AI-related expenditures continue to balloon, more companies may need to tap public markets for financing. 'We’ll see how much capital SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI can collectively absorb from the market,' Powers said.

Multiple ETF issuers are moving quickly to position themselves, with structurally complex designs.

Several small ETF issuers have already filed related fund applications. Corgi ETF Trust I has applied to launch the Corgi MANGOS ETF, which intends to invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities, derivatives, or other instruments linked to Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Alphabet, OpenAI, and SpaceX. Given that OpenAI and Anthropic remain private, the fund may gain exposure through derivatives, private investment vehicles, or other structured products.

Yorkville America Investment Trust has filed applications to establish two funds: the Yorkville America MANGO Plus ETF and the Yorkville America MANGO Plus Premium Equity Income ETF.

The former will include not only MANGOS constituents but also semiconductor and hardware companies such as AMD, Broadcom, Micron Technology, Intel, and Dell Technologies. According to the filing documents, publicly traded MANGOS members are expected to be held in approximately equal weights, while exposure to OpenAI and Anthropic will primarily be achieved through perpetual futures contracts. The latter fund will further enhance yield by writing call options on the MANGO Plus portfolio holdings.

Both applications are at an initial stage and have not yet been approved by the SEC.

Heavily marketing-driven, with questionable investment rationale

Despite strong market enthusiasm, some ETF analysts remain skeptical about the substantive value of the MANGOS concept. In a telephone interview, Dave Nadig, President and Director of Research at ETF.com, described such products as “slightly over-packaged convenience baskets.”

“Bundling together several privately held companies—whose exposure may only be accessible via special-purpose vehicles—with a few massive hyperscale cloud providers and labeling it as a coherent investment thesis has no academic basis,” Nadig said. He argued that the basket reflects a group of high-momentum, high-profile names rather than a clear rationale for grouping these companies into a single portfolio.

Nadig noted that for investors seeking direct exposure to the AI boom, purchasing shares of the relevant companies outright may be simpler than paying an ETF management fee for a small basket of stocks. He acknowledged that such funds might hold some value as short-term trading tools—after all, buying one ETF is more convenient than executing multiple individual stock trades—but expressed skepticism about their suitability as long-term investment vehicles. “These products may have a place as trading instruments, but they don’t constitute a genuine investment thesis,” he said.

Nadig also highlighted a deeper risk: while Wall Street’s thematic labels may be useful for describing established market dynamics, packaging them into investment products before the underlying narrative has been validated by the market could harm investors. MANGOS captures the latest focal point of investor imagination—AI labs, chipmakers, cloud computing giants, and newly listed high-growth companies—but whether this grouping will evolve into the next enduring cohort of market leaders remains uncertain.