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Is Vident International Equity Strategy ETF (VIDI) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Vident International Equity Strategy ETF (VIDI - Free Report) debuted on 10/29/2013, and offers broad exposure to the Foreign Large Value ETF 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.

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.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by Vident Financial, and has been able to amass over $444.64 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Foreign Large Value ETF. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Vident International Equity Index.

The Vident Core International Equity Index is an international equity index that combines principles-based country and securities selection with sophisticated risk management. The index balances risk across developed and emerging economies and emphasizes those with favorable conditions for growth.

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 more expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.61%.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.94%.

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.

Taking into account individual holdings, Genius Electronic Optical Co Ltdaccounts for about 0.93% of the fund's total assets, followed by U.s. Bank Money Market Deposit Account 06/01/2031 (USBFS03) and Lenovo Group Ltd.

VIDI's top 10 holdings account for about 7.02% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 20.47% and is up about 29.88% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/14/2026), respectively. VIDI has traded between $32.00 and $41.67 during this last 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.78 and standard deviation of 15.16% for the trailing three-year period, which makes VIDI a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 262 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

Vident International Equity Strategy ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Foreign Large Value ETF segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.

Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares (VYMI) tracks FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index and the Schwab Fundamental International Equity ETF (FNDF) tracks Russell RAFI Developed ex US Large Co. Index (Net). Vanguard International High Dividend Yield Index Fund ETF Shares has $21.48 billion in assets, Schwab Fundamental International Equity ETF has $25.5 billion. VYMI has an expense ratio of 0.07% and FNDF changes 0.25%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Foreign Large Value ETF

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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