Rolle im Portfolio
The db x-trackers STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 ETF provides equity exposure to the highest dividend paying companies in America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
The index this ETF tracks is broadly diversified across multiple countries but is biased towards financials and defensive sectors like utilities and telecommunications, so this ETF is a best suited as a satellite holding, especially for investors looking for an income-enhanced strategy.
Because this fund’s benchmark index weights constituents by dividend yield rather than market capitalisation, investors will not necessarily find the largest and best known global companies among its top holdings. Additionally, the index contains smaller companies than one might normally expect in a broad based global market cap-weighted index.
Investors looking at this fund should be aware of potential value traps, however. A value trap occurs when a company’s dividend yield is high only because of its share price is low, reflecting the fact that the company may be in trouble.
Fundamentale Analyse
This ETF is part of a growing cohort of strategic beta funds that eschew market capitalisation in favour of alternative weighting methodologies; in this case, yield.
While many investors chase capital gains, historically much of the total return from equities has come in the form of dividends. Depending on the market, dividends have historically accounted for 40% to 60% of the returns from investing in stocks. A policy of regularly paying out earnings can discipline corporate management and reduce the chance of unprofitable acquisitions. As of the end of September 2014, this ETF’s underlying index had a yield of 5.0%, compared with 2.4% for the MSCI World index. Historically, dividend-yielding value stocks, have offered better risk-adjusted returns than their growth counterparts, but they can remain out of favour for years. An issue for dividend-paying stocks at the moment is a potential increase in interest rates. Dividend-paying stocks tend to outperform in stable or declining-rate environments but struggle when rates are on an upswing. When rates rise, a company's cash flow must be discounted at a higher rate. All stocks are affected, but if the economy is booming, stable dividend-paying stocks will not generate as much investor demand as riskier stocks from cyclical and speculative sectors. When rates rise because the economy is growing at a healthy clip, defensive-sector stocks in particular become an expensive trade.
In the current low yield environment, dividend-focused ETFs provide an alternative way to access various sectors with steady income. In particular, the utilities sector--representing 15-20% of the index’s value-- has historically produced strong, stable cash flows and dividends.
Bond yields in some key economies like the US and UK, however, are trending upwards, signalling the beginning of a potential normalisation of valuations across asset prices. When the world's largest developed economies fully recover and central bankers start to raise interest rates, bond yields will rise much further over time, making dividend funds like this one less appealing to income investors.
Indexkonstruktion
The STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index includes the 100 highest dividend paying stocks in America, Europe and Asia/Pacific relative to their home market. Stocks are screened by historical non-negative dividend-per-share rates, and their dividend to earnings-per-share ratios must be less than or equal to 60-80% depending on the region. The component stocks are capped at 10% of the index’s value and reviewed quarterly. The largest country exposure is the U.S. (20-25%), followed by the UK (10-15%), Hong Kong and Australia (both 10-15%). Financials are the largest sector weighting (35-40%), followed by utilities (15-20%) and telecommunications (10-15%). The largest components are Belgacom, Annaly Capital Management, and Banco Santander, all with weights of 1-3%.
Fondskonstruktion
The fund uses synthetic replication to provide exposure to the Stoxx Global Select Dividend 100 total return index, entering an unfunded swap with parent company Deutsche Bank. The ETF buys a basket of securities (i.e. substitute basket) from Deutsche Bank while simultaneously entering into an OTC total return swap agreement to receive the performance of the benchmark index of reference (net of fees) in exchange for that of the substitute basket. The swap is reset to zero whenever there is a creation or redemption in the fund or the maximum swap exposure exceeds 5% of the funds prevailing end of day NAV. db X-trackers ETFs’ substitute baskets typically consist of OECD equities. At the time of writing, it consisted of US and Brazilian equities from a variety of industries. Its total value was equivalent to 103.32% of the fund’s net asset value.
Gebühren
The fund levies a total expense ratio of 0.50%, which is at the higher end of ETFs tracking global equity income. However, the TER may be reduced by swap transaction enhancements which db X-trackers estimates to be around 0.06% per annum. The fund’s estimated holding cost, as measured by the tracking difference, is therefore 0.44% per annum, according to the company website. Investors should bear in mind that the realised tracking difference may be different from this estimate. Additional costs to investors associated with trading the ETF include bid-ask spreads and brokerage fees.
Alternativen
As of writing, there are only two alternative funds providing exposure to global dividend stocks. The iShares STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 (DE) ETF uses full replication and has a TER of 0.45%. Lyxor SG Global Quality Income, which follows a methodologically similar index, instead uses synthetic replication and has a TER of 0.45%.
However, there is no shortage of ETFs providing standard market capitalisation weighted global equity exposure, though investors in these funds would not enjoy the potential benefits of a dividend-enhanced strategy.
