Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF (OUSA) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Making its debut on 07/14/2015, smart beta exchange traded fund ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF (OUSA - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value 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.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

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

Managed by Alps, OUSA has amassed assets over $790.77 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the FTSE US Qual / Vol / Yield Factor 5% Capped Index before fees and expenses.

The OShares U.S. Quality Dividend Index measures the performance of publicly-listed large-capitalization and mid-capitalization dividend-paying issuers in the United States.

Cost & Other Expenses

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.48%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Representing 22.80% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Healthcare sector; Information Technology and Financials round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ - Free Report) accounts for about 5.84% of the fund's total assets, followed by Procter & Gamble Co. (PG - Free Report) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 40.03% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -16.44% and is down about -4.26% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 08/15/2022), respectively. OUSA has traded between $38.45 and $46.65 during this last 52-week period.

With about 100 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

ALPS O'Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD - Free Report) tracks Russell 1000 Value Index and the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. IShares Russell 1000 Value ETF has $55.40 billion in assets, Vanguard Value ETF has $101.14 billion. IWD has an expense ratio of 0.19% and VTV charges 0.04%.

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

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.

Published in