The WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend ETF (DGS) made its debut on 10/30/2007, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs 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.
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.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track 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.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Wisdomtree, DGS has amassed assets over $1.8 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend Index.
The WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of primarily small cap stocks selected from the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index. Companies included in the Index fall within the bottom 10% of total market capitalization of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index.
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.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.58%.
DGS's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 3.04%.
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.
Looking at individual holdings, Growthpoint Properties Ltd (GRT) accounts for about 1.34% of total assets, followed by Innolux Corp and Old Mutual Ltd (OMU).
DGS's top 10 holdings account for about 9.29% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, DGS has added about 13.38%, and is up about 34.1% in the last one year (as of 02/27/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $43.34 and $65.27.
The ETF has a beta of 0.61 and standard deviation of 13.20% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 1032 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Emerging Market ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index and the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $116.64 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $149.11 billion. VWO has an expense ratio of 0.06% and IEMG changes 0.09%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Emerging Market 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 Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend ETF (DGS): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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