A smart beta exchange traded fund, the John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM) debuted on 09/28/2015, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend category of the market.
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.
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.
But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.
These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
JHMM is managed by John Hancock, and this fund has amassed over $3.08 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index before fees and expenses.
The John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are between the 200th and 951st largest U.S. company.
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.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.41% for JHMM, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.23%.
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.
JHMM's heaviest allocation is in the Industrials sector, which is about 19.60% of the portfolio. Its Financials and Information Technology round out the top three.