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Should WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Earnings Fund (EES) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) plans to keep on adding new features to its digital bank in accordance to clients' demand and counter growing competition from other digital banks.

Looking for broad exposure to the Small Cap Value segment of the US equity market? You should consider the WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Earnings Fund (EES), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 02/23/2007.

The fund is sponsored by Wisdomtree. It has amassed assets over $772.51 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Value segment of the US equity market.

Why Small Cap Value

Sitting at a market capitalization below $2 billion, small cap companies tend to be high-potential stocks compared to its large and mid cap counterparts, but come with higher risk.

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While value stocks have lower than average price-to-earnings and price-to-book ratios, they also have lower than average sales and earnings growth rates. Value stocks have outperformed growth stocks in nearly all markets when you consider long-term performance, growth stocks are more likely to outpace value stocks in strong bull markets.

Costs

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.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.38%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.19%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a 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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Consumer Discretionary sector--about 20.60% of the portfolio. Financials and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Match Group Inc (MTCH) accounts for about 2.05% of total assets, followed by Premier Inc (PINC) and Kemet Corp (KEM).

The top 10 holdings account for about 10.84% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

EES seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Earnings Index before fees and expenses. The WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Earnings Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of earnings-generating companies within the small-capitalization segment of the U.S. Stock Market.

The ETF return is roughly 12.20% so far this year and was up about 23.92% in the last one year (as of 09/14/2018). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $33 and $40.77.

The ETF has a beta of 1.10 and standard deviation of 16.02% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 824 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Earnings Fund carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, EES is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Small Cap ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) and the Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR) track a similar index. While iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF has $10.38 B in assets, Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF has $14.27 B. IWN has an expense ratio of 0.24% and VBR charges 0.07%.

Bottom-Line

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

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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WISTR-US SC ERN (EES): ETF Research Reports
 
Match Group, Inc. (MTCH) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Kemet Corporation (KEM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
VIPERS-SC VALUE (VBR): ETF Research Reports
 
ISHARS-RS 2K VL (IWN): ETF Research Reports
 
Premier, Inc. (PINC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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Zacks Investment Research