Demonstrating Our New ETF Characteristics Tool

Recently, we launched the WisdomTree ETF Characteristics Comparison Tool to provide fundamental analysis of WisdomTree Funds and market benchmarks. This tool gives users the ability to compare historical fundamental data—such as price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios and return on equity, market capitalization statistics, and sector/country allocations—between our Funds and a whole suite of benchmarks, all at the click of a button. In a three-part series, we will detail how to use the tool, elaborate on its various capabilities and highlight some important trends we have seen in a few of WisdomTree’s Funds. 

Simple Steps to Use the Tool

When you first open the tool, you can choose up to four funds and benchmark indexes from a drop-down list, separated by the various equity fund families.

Figure 1: Create Your Comparison

Once you have made your selections, simply click the “Done” button to run the comparison. From there, a list of preselected exchange-traded fund characteristics will be generated, along with two additional charts displaying the current sector and country weights. You can click on the “Show More Characteristics” link to expand upon the list of statistics shown. To see the trends on any given characteristic, simply click on the stat to expand the table and be shown a historical chart. Additionally, you can export all this fundamental information to an Excel document by clicking on the “Export Excel” button on the top right of the page. 

Figure 2: View Your Analysis

For standardized performance of DLN, click here.

We believe this tool can provide investors with an incredible amount of information to better understand the context of their investment relative to benchmarks. One such example contrasts the WisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend Fund (DLN) and the S&P 500 Index (SPX). DLN, at its core, seeks to track the investment results of dividend-paying large-cap companies in the U.S. Tapping into this dividend-paying market can be ideal for complementing or replacing the traditional large-cap value or dividend-oriented strategies, satisfying both a demand for capital appreciation and a tilt toward income. When compared historically, DLN has maintained a sizable and consistent dividend yield advantage versus the S&P 500 Index, as seen in figure 2. When combining DLN’s dividend yield with its net buyback yield (figure 3), you arrive at a nearly a 5% shareholder yield. With DLN trading at a discount to the S&P 500, on both a trailing P/E (19.29 versus 17.19) and estimated P/E basis (16.07 versus 14.93) (figure 3), this could signal an opportunity for income-oriented investors.

Figure 3: DLN vs. SPX Buybacks and Valuations

Conclusion

In an age of transparency, we want to provide the tools necessary to help investors make more informed investment and allocation decisions, and we are very excited to continue this commitment with the creation of the WisdomTree ETF Characteristics Comparison Tool.