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Is Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 09/12/2016, the Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Value category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

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.

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

Because the fund has amassed over $1.22 billion, this makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Value. FDVV is managed by Fidelity. FDVV, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Fidelity Core Dividend Index.

The Fidelity High Dividend Index reflects the performance of stocks of large and mid-capitalization high-dividend-paying companies that are expected to continue to pay and grow their dividends.

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 0.29%.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.72%.

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.

For FDVV, it has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector --about 20.90% of the portfolio --while Information Technology and Energy round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 5.67% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM - Free Report) .

FDVV's top 10 holdings account for about 29.76% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -11.06% and is down about -7.12% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/25/2022), respectively. FDVV has traded between $33.02 and $42.25 during this last 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 24.46% for the trailing three-year period. With about 108 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Fidelity High Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Dimensional U.S. Targeted Value ETF (DFAT - Free Report) tracks ---------------------------------------- and the iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF (IUSV - Free Report) tracks S&P 900 Value Index. Dimensional U.S. Targeted Value ETF has $6.97 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF has $11.62 billion. DFAT has an expense ratio of 0.29% and IUSV 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 - All 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.

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