Designed to provide broad exposure to the High-Yield/Junk Bond ETFs category of the market, the FlexShares High Yield ValueScored Bond ETF (HYGV) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 07/17/2018.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking 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
HYGV is managed by Flexshares, and this fund has amassed over $907.71 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the High-Yield/Junk Bond ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the NORTHERN TRUST HY VLU-SCRD US CORP BD ID.
The Northern Trust High Yield Value-Scored US Corporate Bond Index measures the performance of a diversified universe of high yield, US-dollar denominated bonds of companies exhibiting favorable fundamental qualities, market valuations and liquidity.
Cost & Other Expenses
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.37%.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 7.54%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Looking at individual holdings, Minerva Merger Sub Inc Callable Notes Fixed 6.5% (ATHENA) accounts for about 0.80% of total assets, followed by Clarios Global Lp / Clarios Us Finance Co Callable (POWSOL) and Ngl Energy Operating Llc / Ngl Energy Finance Corp (NGL).