Due to its emphasis on steady dividend growers, SMDV’s lineup is small relative to traditional small-cap funds. The ETF holds just 59 stocks, but SMDV has its perks. Those include the potential to outperform standard small-cap benchmarks over the long-term while being less volatile.
“Companies that consistently grow their dividends tend to be high quality with long histories of profit and growth, strong fundamentals and stable earnings, and management teams with conviction,” according to ProShares. “These features have generally enabled dividend growers to withstand repeated market turmoil and still deliver strong returns with lower volatility.”
SMDV allocates nearly a quarter of its weight to the utilities sector while the financial services and industrial sectors combine for over a third of the fund’s weight. SMDV is up more than 2% in the fourth quarter and resides just about 3% below its 52-week high.
For more on smart beta ETFs, visit our Smart Beta Channel.