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Is SPDR-SP EM DVD (EDIV) a Hot ETF Right Now?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market, the SPDR-SP EM DVD (EDIV - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 02/23/2011.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

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

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.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by State Street Global Advisors, and has been able to amass over $434.93 M, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P Emerging Markets Dividend Opportunities Index.

This Index generally includes 100 tradable, exchange-listed common stocks from emerging market countries that offer high dividend yields. Additionally, stocks must have positive 3-year earnings growth and profitability. Stocks are weighted by annual dividend yield. To ensure diverse exposure, no single country or sector has more than a 25% weight and no single stock has more than a 3% weight.

Cost & Other Expenses

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.49% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.38%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Taking into account individual holdings, Ptt Public Co. Ltd. Nvdr (PTT.R-TH) accounts for about 3.40% of the fund's total assets, followed by United Microelectronics Corp. (2303-TW) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (5347-MY).

EDIV's top 10 holdings account for about 28.07% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, the ETF has lost about -1.24%, and is up about 6.13% in the last one year (as of 07/26/2018). EDIV has traded between $29.79 and $36.54 in the past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.92 and standard deviation of 18.95% for the trailing three-year period, which makes EDIV a medium choice in this particular space. With about 139 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR-SP EM DVD is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Emerging Market ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG - Free Report) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO - Free Report) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China An Inclusion Index. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $48.74 B in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $63.17 B. IEMG has an expense ratio of 0.14% and VWO charges 0.14%.

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