Managing Volatility With an International Equity ETF

Related: Smart Beta: More Than Just an Investing Fad

While low-vol ETFs may only hold companies that tend to exhibit smaller swings using the factor as a selection, the VictoryShares suite starts with the broad market and screens for companies with four quarters of positive earnings. Those stocks are then weighted based on their standard deviation over the past 180 trading days. Stocks with lower volatility are given higher weightings and stocks with greater volatility are given lower weightings. Ultimately, all securities that pass the earnings criteria are present, just at different weights.

At the end of the third quarter, CIL’s largest sector weight was 22.2% to financial services with industrial and consumer discretionary names combining for almost 34% of the ETF’s roster. CIL charges 0.45% per year, or $45 on a $10,000 investment.

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