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Is Vident International Equity ETF (VIDI) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 10/29/2013, the Vident International Equity ETF (VIDI - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Because the fund has amassed over $348.86 million, this makes it one of the larger ETFs in the World ETFs. VIDI is managed by Vident Financial. VIDI, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Vident International Equity Index.

The Vident Core International Equity Index is an international equity index that combines principles-based country and securities selection with sophisticated risk management. The index balances risk across developed and emerging economies and emphasizes those with favorable conditions for growth.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.61%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 6.40%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

When you look at individual holdings, Cash & Other (Cash&Other) accounts for about 1.46% of the fund's total assets, followed by Delek Group (DLEKG) and Cia Energ Mg-Cemig (CMIG4).

VIDI's top 10 holdings account for about 6.71% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Vident International Equity ETF has lost about -14.62% so far, and is down about -9.78% over the last 12 months (as of 11/30/2022). VIDI has traded between $19.23 and $27.47 in this past 52-week period.

VIDI has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 24.45% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 251 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vident International Equity ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the World ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS - Free Report) tracks FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index and the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA - Free Report) tracks FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index. Vanguard Total International Stock ETF has $49.23 billion in assets, Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF has $99.76 billion. VXUS has an expense ratio of 0.07% and VEA charges 0.05%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the World ETFs.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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