497K 1 a_put2412wv2sum.htm PUTNAM ETF TRUST



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Putnam
Sustainable Future
ETF


Summary prospectus


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This ETF is different from traditional ETFs.
Traditional ETFs tell the public what assets they hold each day. This ETF will not. This may create additional risks for your investment. For example:
  • You may have to pay more money to trade the ETF’s shares. This ETF will provide less information to traders, who tend to charge more for trades when they have less information.
  • The price you pay to buy ETF shares on an exchange may not match the value of the ETF’s portfolio. The same is true when you sell shares. These price differences may be greater for this ETF compared to other ETFs because it provides less information to traders.
  • These additional risks may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions.
  • The ETF will publish on its website each day a “Tracking Basket” designed to help trading in shares of the ETF. While the Tracking Basket includes some of the ETF’s holdings, it is not the ETF’s actual portfolio.
The differences between this ETF and other ETFs may also have advantages. By keeping certain information about the ETF secret, the ETF may face less risk that other traders can predict or copy its investment strategy. This may improve the ETF’s performance. If other traders are able to copy or predict the ETF’s investment strategy, however, this may hurt the ETF’s performance.
For additional information regarding the unique attributes and risks of this ETF, see “Tracking Basket structure risk,” “Arbitrage risk,” and “Fluctuation of NAV and share price risk” in the “Principal investment risks” section (in the Fund summary section and in the Fund details section under “Investment details”) and the “Additional information about the fund” section (in the Fund details section under “Shareholder information”) below and in the ETF’s prospectus.





FUND SYMBOL Putnam Sustainable Future ETF
PFUT




Principal U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc.



 





Putnam Sustainable Future E
TF

Investment objective

Putnam Sustainable Future ETF seeks long term capital appreciation.

Fees and expenses

The following tables describe the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.

Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Management fees Distribution and
service (12b-1) fees
Other expenses Acquired fund fees and expenses Total annual fund operating
expenses
0.64% N/A 0.00% 0.01% 0.65%

Example

The following hypothetical example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. It assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then, except as indicated, redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. It assumes a 5% return on your investment each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.

1 year 3 years 5 years 10 years
$66 $208 $362 $810

Portfolio turnover

The fund pays transaction-related costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher 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 annual fund operating expenses or the above example, affect fund performance. The fund’s turnover rate in the most recent fiscal year was 71%.

Principal investment strategies

The fund invests mainly in common stocks of U.S. companies of any size, with a focus on companies whose products and services Putnam Investment Management, LLC (“Putnam Management” or the “Investment Manager”) believes provide solutions that directly contribute to sustainable social, environmental and economic development (“Solutions Companies”). Stocks of this type of company are typically, but not

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always, considered to be growth stocks. Growth stocks are stocks of companies whose revenues, earnings, or cash flows are expected to grow faster than those of similar firms, and whose business growth and other characteristics may lead to an increase in stock price. The Investment Manager may consider, among other factors, a company’s impact on sustainable environmental, social and economic development (as described below), valuation, financial strength, growth potential, competitive position in its industry, projected future earnings, cash flows and dividends when deciding whether to buy or sell investments.

The Investment Manager’s approach to sustainable investing incorporates fundamental research together with consideration of sustainable environmental, social and economic development impact. The Investment Manager believes that companies whose products and services produce positive environmental, social and economic development impact also often demonstrate potential for strong financial growth. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets in securities that meet the Investment Manager’s sustainability criteria. These criteria are based on a proprietary sustainability solutions map that links to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In applying these criteria, the Investment Manager will assign each company a proprietary environmental, social and/or corporate governance (“ESG”) rating ranging from 1 to 4 (1 indicating the highest (best) ESG rating and 4 indicating the lowest (worst) ESG rating). In order to meet the Investment Manager’s sustainability criteria for purposes of this investment policy, a company must be rated 2 or 1 by the Investment Manager. This policy is non-fundamental and may be changed only after 60 days’ notice to shareholders. The Investment Manager may not apply sustainability criteria to investments that are not subject to the fund’s 80% policy, and such investments may not meet the Investment Manager’s sustainability criteria. In selecting each investment the Investment Manager considers the extent to which a company’s products or services may provide solutions to forward-looking sustainability needs, creating positive impact in environmental, social and economic development areas. Environmental impacts may include, for example, reduction of carbon emissions and improved water quality. Social impacts may include, for example, improvements in employee well-being, supplier standards, or access to products, information, or security. Economic development impacts may include, for example, stakeholder analysis and shared value approaches to business practices, access to economic opportunity, or improvements in operational effectiveness or efficiency.

The fund is an actively managed ETF that operates pursuant to an exemptive order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Order”) and does not publicly disclose its complete portfolio holdings each business day. Instead, the fund publishes each business day on its website a “Tracking Basket,” which is designed to closely track the daily performance of the fund but is not the fund’s actual portfolio. The Tracking Basket is comprised of: (1) select recently disclosed portfolio holdings and/or select securities from the universe from which the fund’s investments are selected (“Strategy Components”); (2) liquid ETFs that convey information about the types of instruments (that are not otherwise fully represented by the Strategy

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Components) in which the fund invests (“Representative ETFs”); and (3) cash and cash equivalents. For additional information regarding the Tracking Basket, see “Additional information about the fund — Tracking basket structure” in the prospectus.

The fund also publishes each business day on its website the “Tracking Basket Weight Overlap,” which is the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the prior business day’s Tracking Basket compared to the holdings of the fund that formed the basis for the fund’s calculation of net asset value (“NAV”) per share at the end of the prior business day. The Tracking Basket Weight Overlap is designed to provide investors with an understanding of how similar the Tracking Basket is to the fund’s actual portfolio in percentage terms.

Principal investment risks

  • Tracking Basket structure risk. The fund’s Tracking Basket structure may affect the price at which shares of the fund trade in the secondary market. Although the Tracking Basket is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of the fund at or close to the fund’s NAV per share, there is a risk that market prices will vary significantly from NAV. ETFs trading on the basis of a published Tracking Basket may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, and therefore, may cost investors more to trade. These risks may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility. In addition, although the fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Tracking Basket to identify the fund’s trading strategy. If successful, this could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the fund and its shareholders, such as front running the fund’s trades of portfolio securities.
  • Arbitrage risk. Unlike ETFs that publicly disclose their complete portfolio holdings each business day, the fund provides certain other information intended to allow market participants to estimate the value of positions in fund shares. Although this information is designed to facilitate arbitrage opportunities in fund shares to reduce bid/ask spread and minimize discounts or premiums between the market price and NAV of fund shares, there is no guarantee the fund’s arbitrage mechanism will operate as intended and that the fund will not experience wide bid/ask spreads and/or large discounts or premiums to NAV. In addition, market participants may attempt to use the disclosed information to “reverse engineer” the fund’s trading strategy, which, if successful, could increase opportunities for predatory trading practices that may have the potential to negatively impact the fund’s performance.
  • Fluctuation of NAV and share price risk. Shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to the NAV than shares of other ETFs, including ETFs that make their daily holdings public. The NAV of the fund will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the fund’s holdings. The fund’s shares can be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Disruptions to creations and redemptions, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for the fund’s shares may result in the fund’s shares trading significantly above (at a
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premium) or below (at a discount) to NAV or the intraday value of the fund’s holdings. In addition, in stressed market conditions or periods of market disruption or volatility, the market for the fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the fund’s underlying portfolio holdings.

  • Trading issues risk. The fund, which began trading publicly in May 2021, has a limited public trading history and will operate differently from other actively managed ETFs that publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis. There can be no assurance that an active trading market will develop or be maintained or that the market for fund shares will operate as intended, which could lead to the fund’s shares trading at wider spreads and larger premiums and discounts to NAV than other actively managed ETFs that publish their portfolio holdings on a daily basis, particularly during periods of market disruption or volatility. As a result, it may cost investors more to trade fund shares than shares of other ETFs. There is no guarantee that the fund will be able to attract market makers and authorized participants. Market makers and authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in the fund’s shares or to submit purchase and redemption orders for creation units.

The market prices of the fund’s shares are expected to fluctuate, in some cases materially, in response to changes in the fund’s NAV, the intraday value of the fund’s holdings and supply and demand for the fund’s shares. The Investment Manager cannot predict whether the fund’s shares will trade above, below or at their NAV or the intraday value of the fund’s holdings. During such periods, investors may incur significant losses if they sell shares.

The securities held by the fund may be traded in markets that close at a different time than the exchange on which the fund’s shares are listed. Liquidity in those securities may be reduced after the applicable closing times. Accordingly, during the time when the exchange is open but after the applicable market closing, fixing or settlement times, bid-ask spreads on the exchange and the corresponding premium or discount to the shares’ NAV may widen.

  • Trading halt risk. There may be circumstances where a security held in the fund’s portfolio but not in the Tracking Basket does not have readily available market quotations. If the Investment Manager determines that such circumstance may affect the reliability of the Tracking Basket as an arbitrage vehicle, that information, along with the identity and weighting of that security in the fund’s portfolio, will be publicly disclosed on the fund’s website and the Investment Manager will assess appropriate remedial measures. In these circumstances, market participants may use this information to engage in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the fund and its shareholders. In addition, if securities representing 10% or more of the fund’s portfolio do not have readily available market quotations, the Investment Manager would promptly request the exchange to halt trading on the fund, meaning that investors would not be able to trade their shares. Trading may also be halted in other circumstances, for example, due to market conditions.
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  • Large shareholder risk. The fund may be an investment option for mutual funds that are managed by Franklin Resources, Inc. (“Franklin Templeton”) and its affiliates as “funds of funds.” Additionally, other investors from time to time may make substantial investments in the fund. Such shareholders may at times be considered to control the fund. Dispositions of a large number of shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the fund’s liquidity and net assets to the extent such transactions are executed directly with the fund in the form of redemptions through an authorized participant, rather than executed in the secondary market. These redemptions may also force the fund to sell securities, which may increase the fund’s brokerage costs. In addition, fund returns may be adversely affected if the fund holds a portion of its assets in liquid, cash-like investments in connection with or in anticipation of shareholder redemptions. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares of the fund on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the exchange and may, therefore, have a material effect (upward or downward), on the market price of the fund’s shares.
  • Authorized participant concentration risk. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation and redemption transactions directly with the fund. The fund may have a limited number of financial institutions that act as authorized participants, none of which are obligated to engage in creation and/ or redemption transactions. To the extent that those authorized participants do not engage in creation and redemption orders, there may be a significantly diminished trading market for fund shares or fund shares may trade at a discount (or premium) to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or de-listing. This risk may be heightened due to the fact that the fund has a novel and unique structure and does not disclose its portfolio holdings daily, unlike certain other actively managed ETFs, and could be greater during market disruptions or periods of volatility.
  • Cash transactions risk. Unlike certain ETFs, the fund may effect creations and redemptions in cash or partially in cash. Therefore, it may be required to sell portfolio securities and subsequently recognize gains on such sales that the fund might not have recognized if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. As such, investments in the fund’s shares may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that distributes portfolio securities entirely in-kind.
  • Market risk. The value of investments in the fund’s portfolio may fall or fail to rise over extended periods of time for a variety of reasons, including general economic, political or financial market conditions, investor sentiment and market perceptions, government actions, geopolitical events or changes, outbreaks of infectious illnesses or other widespread public health issues, and factors related to a specific issuer, geography, industry or sector. These and other factors may lead to increased volatility and reduced liquidity in the fund’s portfolio holdings, may negatively impact the fund’s performance, and may exacerbate other risks to which the fund is subject. Companies whose stocks we believe are undervalued by the market may have experienced adverse business developments or may be subject to special risks that have caused their stocks to be out of favor.
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  • Common stock risk. Common stock represents an ownership interest in a company. The value of a company’s stock may fall or fail to rise as a result of factors directly relating to that company, such as decisions made by its management or lower demand for the company’s products or services. A stock’s value may also fall because of factors affecting not just the company, but also other companies in the same industry or in a number of different industries, such as increases in production costs.
  • Growth investing risk. Growth stocks may be more susceptible to earnings disappointments, and the market may not favor growth-style investing.
  • Small and midsize companies risk. Stocks of small and midsize companies often trade in smaller volumes, and their prices may fluctuate more than stocks of larger companies. Stocks of these companies may therefore be more vulnerable to adverse developments than those of larger companies.
  • Industry or sector concentration risk. From time to time, the fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related industries or sectors, which would make the fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting those industries or sectors.
  • Sustainable investing risk — Solutions Companies. Investing with a focus on Solutions Companies, whose products and services may provide solutions that directly impact sustainable environmental, social and economic development, may result in the fund investing in certain types of companies, industries or sectors that the market may not favor. In evaluating an investment opportunity, the Investment Manager may make investment decisions without the availability of optimal ESG-related data or based on information and data that is incomplete or inaccurate. Sustainability and ESG metrics are not uniformly defined and applying such metrics involves subjective assessments. Sustainability and ESG scorings and assessments of issuers can vary across third-party data providers and may change over time. The Investment Manager does not rely exclusively on third-party data providers in evaluating ESG criteria. ESG information from third-party providers may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable. In addition, a Solutions Company’s business practices, products or services may change over time. As a result of these possibilities, among others, the fund may temporarily hold securities that are inconsistent with the fund’s sustainable investment criteria. Regulatory changes or interpretations regarding the definitions and/or use of ESG or other sustainability criteria could have a material adverse effect on the fund’s ability to invest in accordance with its investment policies and/or achieve its investment objective, as well as the ability of certain classes of investors to invest in funds, such as the fund, whose strategies include ESG or other sustainability criteria.
  • Management and operational risk. There is no guarantee that the investment techniques, analyses, or judgments that the Investment Manager applies in making investment decisions for the fund will produce the intended outcome or that the investments the Investment Manager selects for the fund will perform as well as other securities that were not selected for the fund. The Investment Manager, or the fund’s other service providers, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could
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negatively impact the fund. The fund may not achieve its goal, and it is not intended to be a complete investment program.

An investment in the fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is important to understand that you can lose money by investing in the fund.

Performance

The performance information below gives some indication of the risks associated with an investment in the fund by showing the fund’s performance year to year and over time. Please remember that past performance is not necessarily an indication of future results. Monthly performance figures for the fund are available at www.franklintempleton.com.

Annual total returns

p8wv2sumreturnschart.jpg

Year-to-date performance
through 9/30/24
15.39%
Best calendar quarter
Q4 2023
17.60%
Worst calendar quarter
Q2 2022
–21.48%

Average annual total returns (for periods ended 12/31/23)

Share class 1 year Since inception
(5/25/21)
Returns before taxes 30.07% –5.10%
Returns after taxes on distributions 30.07% –5.10%
Returns after taxes on distribution and sale of fund shares 17.80% –3.85%
Russell 3000 Index* (no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 25.96% 5.38%
Russell MidCap Growth Index* (no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 25.87% 0.61%
* The table above compares the fund’s returns to the performance of two indexes: (i) the Russell 3000 Index, a broad measure of market performance, and (ii) the Russell MidCap Growth Index, an additional index that the Investment Manager believes more closely reflects the fund’s principal investment objective and strategies.
After-tax returns reflect the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. These after-tax returns do not apply if you hold your fund shares through a 401(k) plan, an IRA, or another tax-advantaged arrangement.
Frank Russell Company is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. Russell ® is a trademark of Frank Russell Company.
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Your fund’s management

Investment advisor

Putnam Investment Management, LLC (“Putnam Management” or the “Investment Manager”)

Portfolio managers

Katherine Collins, CFA, MTS
Head of Sustainable Investing,
portfolio manager of the fund
since 2021

Stephanie Dobson
Portfolio Manager, portfolio manager
of the fund since 2021

Sub-advisors

Franklin Advisers, Inc. (“Franklin Advisers”)

Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited (“FTIML”)*

* Though the Investment Manager has retained the services of FTIML, FTIML does not currently manage any assets of the fund.

The Investment Manager, Franklin Advisers and FTIML are each direct or indirect, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Franklin Templeton.

Purchase and sale of fund shares

Shares of the fund are listed and traded on an exchange, and individual fund shares may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker or dealer at market price. These transactions, which do not involve the fund, are made at market prices that may vary throughout the day, rather than at NAV. Shares of the fund may trade at a price greater than the fund’s NAV (“premium”) or less than the fund’s NAV (“discount”). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (“bid”) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (“ask”) when buying or selling fund shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information regarding the fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spread, is available at www.franklintempleton.com.

Tax information

The fund’s distributions will be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains unless you hold the shares through a tax-advantaged arrangement, in which case you will generally be taxed only upon withdrawal of monies from the arrangement.

Financial intermediary compensation

The fund and its related companies may pay intermediaries, which may include banks, broker/dealers, or financial professionals, for the sale of fund shares and related services. Please bear in mind that these payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker/dealer or other intermediary to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your advisor or visit your advisor’s website for more information.

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Information about the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus, and SAI

The summary prospectus, prospectus, and SAI for a fund provide information concerning the fund. The summary prospectus, prospectus, and SAI are updated at least annually and any information provided in a summary prospectus, prospectus, or SAI can be changed without a shareholder vote unless specifically stated otherwise. The summary prospectus, prospectus, and the SAI are not contracts between the fund and its shareholders and do not give rise to any contractual rights or obligations or any shareholder rights other than any rights conferred explicitly by federal or state securities laws that may not be waived.

Additional information, including current performance, is available at www.franklintempleton.com, or by calling (800) DIAL BEN/342-5236.

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39436-PSUM 12/24