Making its debut on 06/16/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund WisdomTree International Equity ETF (DWM Quick QuoteDWM - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Broad Developed World ETFs category of the market.

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.

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

DWM is managed by Wisdomtree, and this fund has amassed over $590.78 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Developed World ETFs. DWM seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree International Equity Index before fees and expenses.

The WisdomTree International Equity Index is a fundamentally weighted Index that measures the performance of dividend-paying companies in the industrialized world, excluding Canada and the United States.

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.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.48% for DWM, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

DWM's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 3.07%.

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.

When you look at individual holdings, Us Dollaraccounts for about 89.79% of the fund's total assets, followed by Japanese Yen and Hsbc Holdings Plc (HSBA).

The top 10 holdings account for about 105.72% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 26.51% and is up about 22.01% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 07/24/2025), respectively. DWM has traded between $52.06 and $65.34 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.70 and standard deviation of 15.08% for the trailing three-year period, making it a low risk choice in the space. With about 1326 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

WisdomTree International Equity 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) tracks MSCI EAFE Index and the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) tracks MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has $65.96 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF has $147.37 billion. EFA has an expense ratio of 0.32% and IEFA changes 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.