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Is WisdomTree International High Dividend ETF (DTH) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Broad Developed World ETFs category of the market, the WisdomTree International High Dividend ETF (DTH - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 06/16/2006.

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.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

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.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other 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 $340.75 million, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Developed World ETFs. DTH is managed by Wisdomtree. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree International High Dividend Index before fees and expenses.

The WisdomTree International High Dividend Index is a fundamentally weighted Index that measures the performance of companies with high dividend yields selected from the WisdomTree International Equity Index.

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.

With one of the more expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.58%.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 5.57%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

When you look at individual holdings, Bhp Group Ltd (BHP - Free Report) accounts for about 5.43% of the fund's total assets, followed by Novartis Ag and Totalenergies (TTE - Free Report) .

DTH's top 10 holdings account for about 24.53% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, DTH has added roughly 8.78%, and was up about 9.68% in the last one year (as of 11/28/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $34.66 and $39.12.

DTH has a beta of 0.81 and standard deviation of 15.80% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 534 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

WisdomTree International High Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Developed World ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA - Free Report) tracks MSCI EAFE Index and the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA - Free Report) tracks MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index. IShares MSCI EAFE ETF has $48.55 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF has $101.13 billion. EFA has an expense ratio of 0.33% and IEFA charges 0.07%.

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