January was plagued by overwhelming negative returns and volatility, but three funds in ALPS’ ETF range stood out as top performers.
The funds in ALPS’ line-up that saw the greatest returns in January had commonalities. The trio of ETFs were value and dividend ETFs, demonstrating the long-anticipated return of value, as well as equal-weighted strategies.
The ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (IDOG ) saw 3.80% in one-month returns, the greatest return of any ALPS ETF during the month of January.
IDOG ran laps around its category peers, which returned negative 0.24% during the same period, according to ETF Database.
IDOG also has a higher dividend yield than the FactSet Segment Average; IDOG has an annual dividend yield of 3.96%, compared to category peers that have a 2.30% annual dividend yield, according to ETF Database.
Looking abroad is one way that investors are finding ways to boost the yield in equities.
Non-U.S. equities compose nearly 40% of global equity market capitalization when looking at the MSCI ACWI Index, as of November 2021, and while the U.S. is the largest source of dividends, it only represents about half of the global dividend pool, according to MSCI.
IDOG carries an expense ratio of 50 basis points — 10 basis points higher than the FactSet Segment Average — and uses an equal-weighted strategy; each of the 52 securities the fund comprises is weighted between 1.67% and 2.24%.
The ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (SDOG ) returned 2.24% last month, trailing only IDOG.
The fund has an expense ratio of 40 basis points, and similarly to IDOG, consists of 52 securities that are equally weighted.
SDOG has an annual dividend yield of 3.37%, according to ETF Database.
The fund is unique in that it maintains equal allocations to each of 10 sectors, which makes it very different from many dividend-focused products, which tend to have biases towards utilities and financials, according to ETF Database.
The ALPS Hillman Active Value ETF (HVAL ) returned 2.06% in January, the third most impressive return for the month among ALPS’ ETF range.
The newest fund out of the trio, having launched in July 2021, HVAL carries an expense ratio of 55 basis points.
While the fund is still under a year old, it has an annual dividend yield of 0.27%, according to ETF Database.
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