Ultra Dividend ETFs

The last Edition of this column focused on Dividend ETFs, each of which had the word Dividend in its name.  The analysis focused on identifying the best overall ETF for conservative dividend-oriented investors as an alternative core holding that had more than twice the dividend yield of the S&P 500 while collecting comparable, if somewhat … Read more

Dividend-oriented ETFs

Income-oriented investors disgusted by the pitiful yields available in US fixed income securities during the past five years have turned increasingly to dividend ETFs. However, in the ETF world, dividend-oriented ETFs and ETFs constructed to pay owners the highest possible dividend yields aren’t necessarily the same thing. Today, we’ll compare 5 dividend-oriented ETFs with very … Read more

Active ETF Gurus vs. GURU Index ETF

This week’s featured ETF is GURU, Global X Guru Index based on a specific “smart money” hedge fund strategy. Guru’s site claims that the index engineered by Global X and provided by German customized index specialist Solactive AG allows everyday investors to access the high conviction investments among the largest, most sophisticated hedge funds in … Read more

Seven Simple Rules for Owning ETFs and Exchange-Traded Products

Since the beginning of this month traditionally marks back-to-school time for many, I thought the timing was appropriate for this article on basic investor education with a focus on ETFs and similarly traded instruments.  The following seven actions reflect practices, many quite common, I’ve seen executed often that I consider major mistakes.  In fact, I strongly … Read more

Time to Rev Up the JETS?

Airline stocks have been a favorite of many analysts as the economy resumed reopening and restrictions eased.  Is it too late to join the party? If not, which ETFs should be considered? When this blog analyzed opportunities in specific industries such as banks or sectors such as consumer staples, I compared representative ETFs before identifying … Read more

Inside Bank and Financial ETFs: How Do They Compare?

Two other analysts whose blogs I monitor wrote in their midyear reports that they were bullish on bank and financial ETFs. My analysis using ValuEngine data below differs significantly. One analyst singled out KRE and the other’s favorite was FTXO.  They cited that the P/B and P/E ratios were considerably lower than the market averages.  … Read more

How does DEF stack up against Consumer Staples ETFs?

About a month ago, this blog profiled the defensive qualities of the three largest ETFs representing the US Consumer Staples Sector.  One of our readers asked a logical question.  How did DEF, the Invesco Defensive Equity ETF, stack up against the sector ETFs?  After all, its objective of its rules-based methodology is to select companies … Read more

Inside Actively Managed Equity ETFs

By Herbert Blank Actively managed ETFs have evolved very differently from index-driven ETFs.  Most of the assets have been accumulated in actively managed fixed income ETFs while the vast preponderance of Assets Under Management in Equity ETFs are index driven. Although there are many legacy reasons for this, the fact is that the efficiencies of … Read more