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Making its debut on 06/16/2017, smart beta exchange traded fund Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows 100 ETF (CALF) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Value category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
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.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Pacer Etfs, CALF has amassed assets over $8.91 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Small Cap Value. CALF, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Index.
The Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Index uses an objective, rules-based methodology to provide exposure to small-capitalization U.S. companies with high free cash flow yields.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.59% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.09%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For CALF, it has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector --about 28.20% of the portfolio --while Energy and Industrials round out the top three.
When you look at individual holdings, Peabody Energy Corp (BTU) accounts for about 2.28% of the fund's total assets, followed by Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) and Sylvamo Corp (SLVM).