• Weighting eligible companies in our Indexes by dividends, rather than by market cap, enables us to magnify the effect dividends have on performance and potentially raise a portfolio’s trailing 12-month dividend yield. Unlike weighting by dividend yield, which can concentrate weights in the highest-yielding sectors, WisdomTree’s process of being broadly inclusive enables our core dividend Indexes to remain properly diversified across sectors while also increasing income.
Managing Valuation Risk
Another important thing to consider when investing in mid- and small-cap companies, which typically trade at higher multiples as a result of their higher growth potential, is managing valuation risk. With market capitalization-weighted indexes, when constituents increase in price compared to other stocks, they gain greater weight and increase their impact on the performance of the index.
WisdomTree Indexes employ a rules-based rebalancing mechanism that adjusts relative weights based on underlying dividend trends. During the rebalancing process, which occurs once per year for each Index, the relationship between price change and dividend growth is measured. WisdomTree’s Dividend Index rebalance process typically is driven by both:
• Dividend growth: Faster dividend growers see weight increased
• Relative performance:
– Underperformers typically see weight increased
– Outperformers often see weight decreased
Important Risks Related to this Article
Dividends are not guaranteed and a company’s future ability to pay dividends may be limited. A company currently paying dividends may cease paying dividends at any time.