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Is Vident U.S. Equity Strategy ETF (VUSE) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Vident U.S. Equity Strategy ETF (VUSE - Free Report) was launched on 01/22/2014, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - All 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.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.

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.

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.

Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by Vident Financial, and has been able to amass over $567.84 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Value. Before fees and expenses, VUSE seeks to match the performance of the Vident Core U.S. Equity Fund Index.

The Vident U.S. Quality Index is a rules-based, systematic strategy index comprised of equity securities principally traded in the U.S. market of issuers domiciled in the United States.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.50%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.98%.

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.

Representing 25.80% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Financials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 2.36% of total assets, followed by Adobe Inc (ADBE - Free Report) and Broadcom Inc (AVGO - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 22.13% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, VUSE has added roughly 9.84%, and was up about 17.90% in the last one year (as of 09/19/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $44.73 and $56.37.

VUSE has a beta of 1.09 and standard deviation of 17.79% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 126 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vident U.S. Equity Strategy ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Value segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Capital Group Dividend Value ETF (CGDV - Free Report) tracks ---------------------------------------- and the iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF (IUSV - Free Report) tracks S&P 900 Value Index. Capital Group Dividend Value ETF has $10.60 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF has $19.09 billion. CGDV has an expense ratio of 0.33% and IUSV charges 0.04%.

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 Value.

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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