Gabelli Automation ETF

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS April 28, 2023

(GAST)

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), which contain more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s Prospectus and SAI and other information about the Fund online at www.gabelli.com. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-422-3554 or by sending an email request to info@gabelli.com. The Fund’s Prospectus and SAI, both dated April 28, 2023, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Investment Objective

The Fund primarily seeks to provide growth of capital.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund:

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between Gabelli ETFs Trust (the “Trust”) and Gabelli Funds, LLC (the “Adviser”) (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”) provides that the Adviser will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses, and any extraordinary expenses. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions and other charges when buying and selling shares that are not reflected in the fee table and expense example below.

  

(1)“Other Expenses” are based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

(2)Gabelli Funds, LLC, the Fund’s adviser (the “Adviser”), has contractually agreed to waive the Fund’s management fee of 0.90% on the first $25 million in net assets. The management fee waiver shall not apply to any brokerage costs, acquired Fund fees and expenses, interest, taxes, and extraordinary expenses that the Fund may incur. This agreement may be terminated only by, or with the consent of, the Fund’s Board of Trustees. The fee waiver will be in effect until April 30, 2024. In addition, the Fund has agreed, during the three year period following the date of any waiver or reimbursement by the Adviser, to repay such amount to the extent the Fund is able to do so without exceeding the lesser of (1) the expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, as applicable, or (2) the expense limit in effect at the time of recoupment after giving effect to the repayment.

Expense Example

This 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 in the Fund for the time periods shown and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

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Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as 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 the Fund’s shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the annual Fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal period from commencement of operations on January 5, 2022, to December 31, 2022, the Automation Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 28% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund will primarily invest in U.S. exchange-listed common stock and preferred stock. The Fund may also invest in foreign securities by investing in American Depositary Receipts. The Fund focuses on companies which appear underpriced relative to their private market value (“PMV”). PMV is the value the Adviser believes informed investors would be willing to pay for a company.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in stocks that are listed on a national securities exchange as defined under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”). The portfolio manager will invest in companies that, in the public market, are selling at a significant discount to the portfolio manager’s assessment of their PMV. The portfolio manager considers factors such as price, earnings expectations, earnings and price histories, balance sheet characteristics, and perceived management skills. The portfolio manager also considers changes in economic and political outlooks as well as individual corporate developments. The portfolio manager will sell any Fund investments that lose their perceived value relative to other investments.

The Fund defines Automation Companies as any company that is engaged in designing, developing, supporting, or manufacturing automation equipment, related technology, or processes, and firms that use these to automate in their own businesses. These firms include industrial and service automation, cobotics, robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and related equipment, technology, and services. In pursuing the investment theme, the Fund may invest in firms in any economic sector and in any geographic region. Many of the common stocks the Fund will buy will not pay dividends; instead, stocks will be bought for the potential that their prices will increase, providing capital appreciation for the Fund. The value of equity securities will fluctuate due to many factors, including the past and predicted earnings of the issuer, the quality of the issuer’s management, general market conditions, the forecasts for the issuer’s industry, and the value of the issuer’s assets. Holders of equity securities only have rights to value in the company after all issuer debts have been paid, and they could lose their entire investment in a company that encounters financial difficulty.

For purposes of the 80% Policy, the Fund’s investments in Automation Companies include equity securities of U.S. and non-U.S. companies that have at least 50% of their assets, income, earnings, sales, or profits committed to, or derived from automation technologies, equipment, and/or processes.

Automation includes, but is not limited to, the following:

•Industrial and Service Automation

•Cobotics and Robotics

•Artificial Intelligence

•Autonomous Driving

Principal Risks

You may want to invest in the Fund if:

•you are a long term investor

•you seek growth of capital

•you believe that the market will favor value over growth stocks over the long term

•you wish to include a value strategy as a portion of your overall investments

The Fund’s share price will fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s portfolio securities. Your investment in the Fund is not a deposit of the bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency; you may lose money by investing in the Fund. When you sell Fund shares, they may be worth more or less than what you paid for them.

 

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Investing in the ETF involves the following risks:

•Non-Transparent Exchange-Traded Fund (“ETF”) Structure Risk. Unlike most actively managed ETFs the Fund does not provide daily disclosure of its portfolio holding. Instead, the Fund provides a verified intraday indicative value (“VIIV”), calculated and disseminated every second throughout the trading day. The VIIV is intended to provide investors and other market participants with a highly correlated per share value of the underlying portfolio that can be compared to the current market price. There is, however, a risk that shares of the Fund may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, especially during periods of market disruption or volatility, and therefore, may cost investors more to trade. Because the Fund trades on the basis of the VIIV, it may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than traditional ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis. Accordingly, the Adviser or its designee will monitor on an ongoing basis how shares of the Fund trade, including the level of any market price premium or discount to NAV and the bid/ask spreads on market transactions. Should there be extended periods of unusually high bid/ask spreads, the Board will consider the continuing viability of the Fund, whether shareholders are being harmed, and what, if any, action would be appropriate to among other things, narrow the premium/discount or spread, as applicable. Potential actions may include, but are not limited to, changing lead market makers, listing the Fund on a different exchange, changing the size of Creation Units, changing the Fund’s investment objective or strategy, and liquidating the Fund. There is also a risk that the market price may vary significantly from the NAV and, thus, the underlying value of the Fund significantly from the underlying NAV of the Fund. There is also a risk that, despite not disclosing the portfolio holdings each day, some market participants may seek to use publically available information, including the VIIV, to identify the Fund’s investment strategy and engage in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund.

•Early Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments. In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses. In addition, due to the non-transparency of the portfolio a trading halt in a portfolio security could cause discrepancies between the VIIV and NAV of the Fund resulting in uncertainty on the part of the AP that results in wider, less liquid markets. Any security for which trading has been halted for an extended period of time will be disclosed on the Fund’s website, www.gabelli.com.

•Authorized Participant and AP Representative Concentration Risk. The creation and redemption process for the Fund occurs through a confidential brokerage account (“Confidential Account”) with an agent, called an AP Representative, on behalf of an Authorized Participant. Each day, the AP Representative will be given the names and quantities of the securities to be deposited, in the case of a creation, or redeemed, in the case of a redemption (“Creation Basket”), allowing the AP Representative to buy and sell positions in the portfolio securities to permit creations or redemptions on the Authorized Participant’s behalf, without disclosing the information to the Authorized Participant. The Fund may have a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants and AP Representatives, none of which are obligated to engage in creation or redemption transactions. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to process creation and/or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs, generally. The fact that the Fund is offering a novel and unique structure may affect the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants and AP Representatives. During times of market stress, Authorized Participants may be more likely to step away from this type of ETF than a traditional ETF.

•Absence of an Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants. Authorized Participants are not obligated to execute purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. Because this is a novel and unique structure, this could influence the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants. In periods of market volatility, market makers and/or Authorized Participants may be less willing to transact in Fund shares. The absence of an active market for the Fund’s shares may contribute to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount

 

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to net asset value (“NAV”). If a shareholder purchases Fund shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells Fund shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

•New Fund Risk. The Fund is new with a limited operating history and may have higher expenses. There can be no assurance that the Fund will grow to or maintain an economically viable size. The Fund could cease operations, and investors may be required to liquidate or transfer their assets at a loss. However, the expense limitation in place limits this risk through the end of its term.

•Equity Risk. Equity risk is the risk that the prices of the securities held by the Fund will change due to general market and economic conditions, perceptions regarding the industries in which the companies issuing the securities participate, and the issuer company’s particular circumstances.

•American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) Risk. Investment in ADRs does not eliminate all the risks inherent in investing in securities of non-U.S. issuers. The market value of ADRs is dependent upon the market value of the underlying securities and fluctuations in the relative value of the currencies in which the ADRs and the underlying securities are quoted.

•Health Crisis Risk. An outbreak of an infectious respiratory illness, COVID-19, caused by a novel coronavirus has resulted in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare systems, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic impacts. Certain markets have experienced temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. In particular, COVID-19 has resulted in substantial market volatility and global business disruption, impacting the global economy and the financial health of individual companies in significant and unforeseen ways.

•Issuer Risk. The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons that directly relate to an issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage, and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets or factors unrelated to the issuer’s value, such as investor perception.

•Management Risk. If the portfolio manager is incorrect in his assessment of the growth prospects of the securities the ETF holds, then the value of the Fund’s shares may decline.

•Market Trading Risk. Individual Fund shares may be purchased and sold only on a national securities exchange or alternative trading system through a broker-dealer, and may not be directly purchased or redeemed from the Fund. There can be no guarantee that an active trading market for shares will develop or be maintained, or that their listing will continue unchanged. Buying and selling shares may require you to pay brokerage commissions and expose you to other trading costs. Due to brokerage commissions and other transaction costs that may apply, frequent trading may detract from realized investment returns. Trading prices of shares may be above, at, or below the Fund’s NAV, will fluctuate in relation to NAV based on supply and demand in the market for shares and other factors, and may vary significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility. The return on your investment will be reduced if you sell shares at a greater discount or narrower premium to NAV than when you acquired shares.

•Automation Risk. The Fund invests primarily in the equity securities of automation companies and, as such, is particularly vulnerable to risks inherent to those types of companies. These risks include, but are not limited to, small or limited markets for such securities, changes in business cycles, world economic growth, technological progress, rapid obsolescence and government regulation.

•Technology Sector Risk. Technology companies, may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. Technology companies typically face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence. They are also heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by the loss or impairment of those rights. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action.

 

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•Preferred Stock Risk. Preferred stocks are susceptible to general market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change. The dividend on a preferred stock may be changed or omitted by the issuer, and participation in the growth of an issuer may be limited.

•Trading Issues Risk. Trading in Fund shares on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the listing of the Fund will continue to be met.

•Political Risks Relating to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The invasion significantly amplified already existing geopolitical tensions among Russia, Ukraine, Europe, NATO and the United States. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, the resulting responses by the United States and other countries, and the potential for wider conflict has increased volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets, specifically on companies in the oil and gas sector, finance and resource extraction. The extent and duration of Russia’s military actions, including sanctions and consequent future market disruptions, are impossible to predict, but could be significant and may negatively affect global supply chains, inflation, oil and gas supply, and global growth.

Performance

As of December 31, 2022, the Automation Fund has less than one year of operations. Accordingly, no performance information has been presented for the Automation Fund. When available, performance information for the Automation Fund will be at www.gabelli.com.

Management

The Adviser. Gabelli Funds, LLC

The Portfolio Managers. Mr. Brett Kearney, Mr. Hendi Susanto, Vice President of Gabelli Funds, LLC, and Mr. Justin Bergner, CFA, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser and Vice President at Gabelli & Company, have served as portfolio managers of the Fund since its inception.

Other Information

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded Fund (commonly referred to as an “ETF”). Individual shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange. Most investors will buy and sell shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund will only issue or redeem shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 5,000 shares or multiples thereof (“Creation Units”) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor. The Fund generally will issue or redeem Creation Units in return for a designated portfolio of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.

Tax Information

The Fund expects that distributions will generally be taxable as ordinary income or long term capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund 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 the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

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