A smart beta exchange traded fund, the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF (DXJ) debuted on 06/16/2006, and offers broad exposure to the Asia-Pacific (Developed) ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader 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.
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.
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
The fund is managed by Wisdomtree, and has been able to amass over $3.44 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Asia-Pacific (Developed) ETFs. Before fees and expenses, DXJ seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Index.
The WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Index is designed to provide exposure to Japanese equity markets while at the same time neutralizing exposure to fluctuations of the Japanese Yen movements relative to the U.S. dollar.
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.
Annual operating expenses for DXJ are 0.48%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
DXJ's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 3.21%.
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.
Taking into account individual holdings, Toyota Motor Corp accounts for about 5.30% of the fund's total assets, followed by Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 30.8% of DXJ's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, DXJ has lost about -0.10%, and is up about 4.81% in the last one year (as of 04/01/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $91.43 and $117.51.
The fund has a beta of 0.47 and standard deviation of 17.90% for the trailing three-year period, which makes DXJ a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 437 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Asia-Pacific (Developed) ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF (BBJP) tracks MORNINGSTAR JAPAN TRGT MRKT EXPOSURE ID and the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) tracks MSCI Japan Index. JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF has $11.70 billion in assets, iShares MSCI Japan ETF has $13.51 billion. BBJP has an expense ratio of 0.19% and EWJ charges 0.50%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Asia-Pacific (Developed) ETFs.
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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WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity ETF (DXJ): ETF Research Reports iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ): ETF Research Reports JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF (BBJP): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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