Making its debut on 11/21/2007, smart beta exchange traded fund First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend ETF (FGD) provides investors broad exposure to the Foreign Large Value ETF category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the 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.
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 First Trust Advisors. FGD has been able to amass assets over $1.02 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Foreign Large Value ETF. Before fees and expenses, FGD seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index.
The Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index is an indicated annual dividend yield weighted index of 100 stocks selected from the developed-market portion of the Dow Jones World Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for FGD are 0.56%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 5.57%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Taking into account individual holdings, Kohl's Corporation (KSS) accounts for about 4.03% of the fund's total assets, followed by Kiwoom Securities Co., Ltd. (039490.KS) and Enagas S.a. (ENG.SM).
The top 10 holdings account for about 18.3% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 45.02% and it's up approximately 44.37% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 12/26/2025), respectively. FGD has traded between $21.80 and $30.76 during this last 52-week period.
FGD has a beta of 0.67 and standard deviation of 13.05% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a low risk choice in the space. With about 104 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Foreign Large Value ETF segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF (VYMI) tracks FTSE All-World ex US High Dividend Yield Index and the Schwab Fundamental International Equity ETF (FNDF) tracks Russell RAFI Developed ex US Large Co. Index (Net). Vanguard International High Dividend Yield ETF has $14.28 billion in assets, Schwab Fundamental International Equity ETF has $19.55 billion. VYMI has an expense ratio of 0.17% and FNDF changes 0.25%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Foreign Large Value ETF
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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First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend ETF (FGD): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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