Investors may want to consider a special fund focused on high dividend yielding large-caps, according to a leading ETF fund manager.
Christian Magoon believes his firm’s actively managed Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF (DIVO) will provide upside to investors during this volatile and inflationary market backdrop. It’s described as an enhanced dividend income ETF made up of blue-chip dividend payers including Chevron, UnitedHealth, McDonald’s and Visa.
“Those kinds of high quality names… have a built-in hedge, and that hedge is growing their earnings,” the Amplify ETFs CEO told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” Monday. “If we get into a crash scenario, having blue chip companies that are profitable and [have] strong balance sheets, we think will be helpful.”
The Morningstar-rated five star ETF has a dividend income of about 5%, Magoon said.
DIVO has been outperforming the S&P 500 so far this year. But it’s still off almost 14% year-to-date, based on Thursday’s market close. The S&P is off 23%.
Meanwhile, over the past five years, DIVO has underperformed the index. And, one ETF expert believes DIVO will face pressure along with the rest of the broader market.
“It’s kept up with the S&P 500 with much lower volatility over the past five years, and I think that really kind of lends that idea of a tactical overlay versus a pure passive writing calls on a broad index,” said ETF Action CEO Mike Akins. “Over time, that type of strategy is going to lose ground significantly to the marketplace because we’re in more up-markets than we are down.”
Akins, who runs a data and analytics research platform, notes alternative strategies such as managed futures are faring well in the volatile market. While many ETFs in the futures space are also holding up nicely, he warns they are typically nearly impossible to time.
“The problem is, is so many of these strategies are used tactically, and as we know, trying to time when these strategies are going to add benefit to your portfolio is extremely difficult,” Akins said.