Is FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
The FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF) was launched on 12/14/2012, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Flexshares, and has been able to amass over $317.52 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. QDEF seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive Index before fees and expenses.
The Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive Index is designed to provide exposure to a high-quality income-oriented portfolio of long-only U.S. equity securities, with an emphasis on long-term capital growth and a targeted overall beta that is generally between 0.5 to 1.0 times that of the Northern Trust 1250 Index that are selected based on expected dividend payment and fundamental factors.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.37% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.31%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 24.60% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Financials round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL) accounts for about 8.02% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT) and Procter &no.38; Gamble Co/the Common Stock Usd 0 (PG).
QDEF's top 10 holdings account for about 35.52% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF has gained about 6.17% so far, and it's up approximately 16.32% over the last 12 months (as of 10/23/2023). QDEF has traded between $49 and $57.90 in this past 52-week period.
QDEF has a beta of 0.90 and standard deviation of 14.91% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 131 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $42.85 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $298.57 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - All Cap Blend.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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FlexShares Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (QDEF): ETF Research Reports
Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI): ETF Research Reports
iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT): ETF Research Reports
