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Is WisdomTree International High Dividend Fund (DTH) a Hot ETF Right Now?

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The WisdomTree International High Dividend Fund (DTH - Free Report) made its debut on 06/16/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Broad Developed World ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

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.

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.

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 $309.17 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Developed World ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree International High Dividend Index.

The WisdomTree International High Dividend Index is a fundamentally weighted Index that measures the performance of companies with high dividend yields selected from the WisdomTree International Equity Index.

Cost & Other Expenses

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.58% for this ETF, which makes it one of the more expensive products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.14%.

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, China Mobile Ltd accounts for about 2.40% of total assets, followed by Royal Dutch Shell Plc Class A (RDSA) and Novartis Ag .

The top 10 holdings account for about 20.56% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -2.73% and is up about 0.20% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/01/2018), respectively. DTH has traded between $40.50 and $47.36 during this last 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 14.65% for the trailing three-year period, which makes DTH a medium choice in this particular space. With about 484 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

WisdomTree International High Dividend Fund 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 Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA - Free Report) tracks MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index and the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA - Free Report) tracks MSCI EAFE Index. IShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF has $59.19 B in assets, iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has $70.52 B. IEFA has an expense ratio of 0.08% and EFA charges 0.32%.

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.