Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market, the WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor ETF (USMF) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 06/29/2017.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.
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.
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.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
USMF is managed by Wisdomtree, and this fund has amassed over $379.17 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, USMF seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Index.
The WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor Index is comprised of 200 U.S. companies with the highest composite scores based on two fundamental factors, value and quality measures, and two technical factors, momentum and correlation.
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.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.28%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.34%.
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.
When you look at individual holdings, Dreyfus Trsy Oblig Cash Mgmt Cl Insaccounts for about 53.05% of the fund's total assets, followed by Us Dollar and Verisign Inc (VRSN).
The top 10 holdings account for about 110.35% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor ETF has added about 3.3% so far, and is up about 5.42% over the last 12 months (as of 11/04/2025). USMF has traded between $44.42 $52.86 in this past 52-week period.
The fund has a beta of 0.81 and standard deviation of 12.98% for the trailing three-year period. With about 201 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
WisdomTree U.S. Multifactor ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $80.02 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $559.88 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI changes 0.03%.
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 Blend
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 U.S. Multifactor ETF (USMF): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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