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Is FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market, the FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 12/14/2012.
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.
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.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
QDEF is managed by Flexshares, and this fund has amassed over $360.44 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. QDEF seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive Index before fees and expenses.
The Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive Index is designed to provide exposure to a high-quality income-oriented portfolio of long-only U.S. equity securities, with an emphasis on long-term capital growth and a targeted overall beta that is generally between 0.5 to 1.0 times that of the Northern Trust 1250 Index that are selected based on expected dividend payment and fundamental factors.
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 0.37% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 2.10%.
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.
Representing 28% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Healthcare and Financials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 8% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT - Free Report) and Johnson &no.38; Johnson Common Stock Usd 1 (JNJ - Free Report) .
QDEF's top 10 holdings account for about 36.79% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, QDEF has gained about 5.59%, and is up about 22.98% in the last one year (as of 03/01/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $50.33 and $62.36.
QDEF has a beta of 0.90 and standard deviation of 14.63% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 131 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT - Free Report) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $52.78 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $375.51 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.
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 Blend.
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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Is FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market, the FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 12/14/2012.
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.
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.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
QDEF is managed by Flexshares, and this fund has amassed over $360.44 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. QDEF seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive Index before fees and expenses.
The Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive Index is designed to provide exposure to a high-quality income-oriented portfolio of long-only U.S. equity securities, with an emphasis on long-term capital growth and a targeted overall beta that is generally between 0.5 to 1.0 times that of the Northern Trust 1250 Index that are selected based on expected dividend payment and fundamental factors.
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 0.37% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 2.10%.
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.
Representing 28% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Healthcare and Financials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 8% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT - Free Report) and Johnson &no.38; Johnson Common Stock Usd 1 (JNJ - Free Report) .
QDEF's top 10 holdings account for about 36.79% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, QDEF has gained about 5.59%, and is up about 22.98% in the last one year (as of 03/01/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $50.33 and $62.36.
QDEF has a beta of 0.90 and standard deviation of 14.63% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 131 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT - Free Report) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $52.78 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $375.51 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.
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 Blend.
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.