Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Is Invesco KBW High Dividend Yield Financial ETF (KBWD) a Strong ETF Right Now?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Making its debut on 12/02/2010, smart beta exchange traded fund Invesco KBW High Dividend Yield Financial ETF (KBWD - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Financials ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the 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.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

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

KBWD is managed by Invesco, and this fund has amassed over $378.41 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Financials ETFs. KBWD seeks to match the performance of the KBW Nasdaq Financial Sector Dividend Yield Index before fees and expenses.

The KBW Nasdaq Financial Sector Dividend Yield Index is a dividend yield weighted index seeking to reflect the performance of approximately 24 to 40 publicly listed financial companies engaged in the business of providing financial services and products, including banking, insurance and diversified financial services, in the US.

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 one of the most expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 5.39%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 14.96%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

KBWD's heaviest allocation is in the Financials sector, which is about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Fs Kkr Capital Corp (FSK) accounts for about 4.24% of total assets, followed by Orchid Island Capital Inc (ORC) and Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc (IVR).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 37.52% of KBWD's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Invesco KBW High Dividend Yield Financial ETF has lost about -6.82% so far, and is down about -3.06% over the last 12 months (as of 09/24/2026). KBWD has traded between $11.46 $14.71 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 1.02 and standard deviation of 17.74% for the trailing three-year period, which makes KBWD a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 39 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .

Alternatives

Invesco KBW High Dividend Yield Financial ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Financials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

Vanguard Financials Index Fund ETF Shares (VFH) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Financials 25/50 Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) tracks Financial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Financials Index Fund ETF Shares has $12.77 billion in assets, State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $50.4 billion. VFH has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLF changes 0.08%.

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

Published in