Is Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV) a Strong ETF Right Now?

A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV) debuted on 09/12/2016, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Value 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.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.

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

The fund is sponsored by Fidelity. It has amassed assets over $4.85 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Value. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Fidelity Core Dividend Index.

The Fidelity High Dividend Index reflects the performance of stocks of large and mid-capitalization high-dividend-paying companies that are expected to continue to pay and grow their dividends.

Cost & Other Expenses

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.16% for this ETF, which makes it one of the cheaper products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.05%.

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 FDVV, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 22.50% of the portfolio --while Financials and Consumer Staples round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL) accounts for about 5.69% of the fund's total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Nvidia Corp (NVDA).

FDVV's top 10 holdings account for about 30.45% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 0.44% so far this year and is up about 14.16% in the last one year (as of 04/03/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $43.48 and $52.63.

The ETF has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 15.02% for the trailing three-year period. With about 120 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Fidelity High Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Capital Group Dividend Value ETF (CGDV) tracks ---------------------------------------- and the iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF (IUSV) tracks S&P 900 Value Index. Capital Group Dividend Value ETF has $14.46 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF has $20.30 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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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