WisdomTree International MidCap Div ETF's Average Process Pillar and People Pillar ratings result in a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the second-lowest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy receives an Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant underweight position in volatility exposure and an overweight in yield exposure compared with category peers. Low volatility exposure is attributed to stocks with a lower standard deviation of returns. And a high yield exposure is rooted in holding high dividend-paying or buyback stocks. The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm a Below Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

MINDBODY

Rockwell Collins

BlackRock Future Health ETF

Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings Inc

SCANA

ProShares Ultra Health Care

PlayAGS

Allergan

ICL-Israel Chemicals

Next plc.

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category index on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. WisdomTree International MidCap Div Fd earns an Average Process Pillar rating. 

The most significant contributor to the rating is its parent firm's impressive long-term risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.4 stars. This fund tracks an index, which also increases its process rating. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, shows that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Lastly, the process is limited by the fund's weak long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process has struggled over that period.

 This strategy targets larger plays than its peers’ average in the Foreign Small/Mid Value Morningstar Category. But in terms of style (value/growth) exposure, it is similar. Examining additional factor exposure, the managers have consistently had exposure to low-volatility stocks over the past few years, or those whose relative returns look best when the markets are their worst. These companies have historically been a valuable ballast to steady portfolio returns during market downturns. In the latest month, the strategy was also less exposed to the Volatility factor compared with Morningstar Category peers. This strategy's portfolio also has had exposure to more stocks with high dividend or buyback yields over peers in these years. Stocks with high yields can be more stable, mature companies, but at times extreme market pressure or fundamental deterioration may prompt them to cut their dividends, which tends to hurt stock performance. Compared with category peers, however, the strategy had less Yield factor exposure in the latest month. In addition, the strategy had less exposure to high-liquidity stocks compared with Morningstar Category peers in recent months. Less-liquid stocks might offer strong returns to compensate for their risks, but they can be harder and more expensive to trade in bear markets.  More information on a fund and its respective category's factor exposure can be found in the Factor Profile module within the Portfolio section. 

 The portfolio is overweight in real estate and financial services relative to the category average by 5.0 and 3.7 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are healthcare and technology, underweight the average by 3.1 and 2.5 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is positioned across 567 holdings and its assets are more dispersed than the typical peer in the category. In the most recent disclosure, 6.4% of the fund’s assets were concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, as opposed to the category average's 13.6%. And in closing, in terms of portfolio turnover, on a year-over-year basis, 39% of the fund's holdings have turned over, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Average

Process

WisdomTree’s equity team is valuable but does not stand out as one of the industry's best, warranting an Average People Pillar rating. There’s a deep bench of five managers listed on the fund. Together, they manage a total of 113 strategies, with solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Bronze asset-weighted Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating a position to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

People

WisdomTree is improving, but its shaky global fund lineup and uncertain trajectory hold its rating to Below Average. 

WisdomTree’s research organization has long been a strength. Under CIO Jeremy Schwartz, the team has generated creative, economically sound ideas and evolved them into investable products, like the efficient core series. A recent focus on investor education spawned the Portfolio Analysis Tools Hub, an online platform that taps the team’s brainpower to help investors make better investment decisions.

The firm’s product lineup is a mixed bag. To complement its core lineup of fundamentally weighted strategies, WisdomTree has recently launched funds targeting established factors instead of trendy themes—an encouraging reorientation. Yet the shutdown of WisdomTree U.S. Growth and Momentum ETF calls WisdomTree’s commitment to these funds into question, and vestiges from its laxer product-development era look ripe for closure. Its European lineup features risky trading tools that are hard for investors to use well. 

WisdomTree’s future may hinge on WisdomTree Prime, its blockchain-based digital wallet. The launch reflects founder and CEO Jonathan Steinberg’s conviction in the disruptive potential of the blockchain. Prime shouldn’t hurt WisdomTree fund investors (most funds on the platform are zero-fee), but it may distract the firm from shoring up its core offering.

Below Average

Parent

WisdomTree International MidCap Dividend Fund

DIM tracks a dividend-weighted index of dividend-paying mid-cap companies located in the developed world outside the US and Canada.

WisdomTree International SmallCap Dividend Fund

WisdomTree International LargeCap Dividend Fund

WisdomTree International Equity Fund

We recently rebalanced many of our WisdomTree international equity Indexes as part of their annual reconstitution process. As a result of the 2021 rebalance, the broad market and large-cap Indexes exhibited modest changes of 2% or less across all sectors compared to their pre-rebalance positions, except for Financials and Health Care.

A Deeper Look At Our International Dividend Index Rebalance

iShares MSCI Canada ETF

Schwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF

SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF

Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Fund

iShares International Select Dividend ETF

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News for WisdomTree International MidCap Dividend Fund ETF (DIM)