SDOG has an international counterpart, the ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (NYSEArca: IDOG). For dividend investors looking for mostly developed market ex-U.S. exposure, IDOG merits consideration. ALPS identifies the five highest-yielding securities in the 10 GICS sectors on the last trading day of November. From there, IDOG is rebalanced quarterly in an effort to keep sector weights in the area of 10% and individual holdings at around 2%.
Dividend growth as a means of trumping inflation could and arguably should serve to highlight the advantages of the ETFs that focus on dividend growth stocks. That group is comprised of well-established ETFs that emphasize dividend increase streaks as well as a new breed of funds that look for sectors chock full of stocks that have the potential to be future sources of dividend growth.
“Stocks targeted with the Dogs strategy tend to exhibit a few appealing characteristics. First, they tend to have stronger balance sheets with cash flows that can support higher dividends. Going after higher yields does have the potential of getting investors into trouble if a distressed company with an artificially high yield sneaks its way into the portfolio. By and large, though, the companies in this ETF are big revenue generators with enough cash to maintain and grow dividend payments,” according to Seeking Alpha.
For more information on dividend stocks, visit our dividend ETFs category.