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Is WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor ETF (USMF) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 06/29/2017, smart beta exchange traded fund WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor ETF (USMF - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

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

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track 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.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Wisdomtree. It has amassed assets over $378.21 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Index before fees and expenses.

The WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Index is comprised of 200 U.S. companies with the highest composite scores based on two fundamental factors, value and quality measures, and two technical factors, momentum and correlation.

Cost & Other Expenses

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.28% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.35%.

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.

Looking at individual holdings, Dreyfus Trsy Oblig Cash Mgmt Cl Ins accounts for about 51.92% of total assets, followed by Us Dollar and Western Digital Corp (WDC).

The top 10 holdings account for about 110.75% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 1.01% and is up about 5.43% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 01/07/2026), respectively. USMF has traded between $44.42 and $52.45 during this last 52-week period.

USMF has a beta of 0.79 and standard deviation of 12.53% for the trailing three-year period. With about 199 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor 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) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $81.59 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $575.73 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI changes 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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