A sound investment process and strong management team underpin iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF's Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold. The portfolio maintains a cost advantage over competitors, priced within the cheapest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's investment process inspires confidence and earns a High Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant overweight position in corporate bonds and an underweight in B rated bonds compared with category peers. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above 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

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF earns a High Process Pillar rating. 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. The main contributor to the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Excellent risk-adjusted performance also supports the process. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process was successful over that period. The firm's five-year retention rate of 92% supports the process as well.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is: 

The investment seeks to track the investment results of the Bloomberg US High Yield Fallen Angel 3% Capped Index composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds that were previously rated investment grade.  The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the underlying index, and the fund will invest at least 90% of its assets in fixed income securities of the types included in the underlying index. The index is designed to reflect the performance of U.S. dollar denominated, and high yield corporate bonds that were previously rated investment grade.  

 This strategy has a modest 5.4% 12-month yield, lower than its average peers' 6.4%. It also has a 7.0% 30-day SEC yield (a measure similar to yield-to-maturity). A lower yield tends to indicate lower credit risk. The portfolio has a higher average surveyed credit quality of BB, compared with the category average of B. Lower-credit-risk strategies are often able to navigate bear markets more effectively. In terms of long-term interest-rate risk, this strategy is on par with peers. The longer a strategy's duration, the more sensitive it is to shifts in interest rates. This fund, with a 5.0-year duration, is expected to gain 5.0% of its net asset value if interest rates drop by 1 percentage point, and vice versa.

High

Process

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF's strong team drives the strategy's Above Average People Pillar rating. There are two managers listed on the fund: James Mauro, Karen Uyehara. The team is well equipped, with an average of 13 years of portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 114 strategies, with solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Silver 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.

Above Average

People

BlackRock offers compelling options across asset classes and vehicles. It earns an Above Average rating for Parent. 
The firm’s approximately USD 8 trillion in assets under management, as of Sept. 30, 2022, gives it unparalleled scale and influence. It is a market-leading index fund provider globally, and its iShares exchange-traded fund franchise offers a low-cost lineup of core funds that investors can use to build a well-diversified portfolio for dirt cheap. The firm can be more adventurous in its ETF launches than some peers, so not everything it launches is appropriate for the masses. As a result, it is likely to have more ETF closures than peers that stick to the basic building blocks.  
The firm’s active fixed-income and multi-asset efforts also stand out as some of the best in the industry. Those benefit from BlackRock’s commitment to building a first-class risk management system via its Aladdin analytics software. The software is also available for sale to other firms and has proved to be a popular option for competitors, a testament to its usefulness. 
More recently, the firm has shifted its focus to ESG offerings and incorporating ESG across its investment lineup, leading to a political backlash in the United States.
BlackRock isn’t the best at everything it tries to do, but retail investors, financial advisors, and large institutions could all build robust portfolios using BlackRock’s products.

Parent

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF

FALN tracks a market value weighted index of bonds that were rated investment grade at issuance, but later downgraded to sub-investment grade.

SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

SPHY and FALN are my top two high-yield corporate bond ETF picks.

SPHY Vs. FALN: Which High-Yield Corporate Bond ETF Is Best For Retirees?

VanEck Vectors BDC Income ETF

Panagram Bbb-B Clo Etf

Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF

Janus Detroit Street Trust-Janus Henderson B-BBB CLO ETF

On Seeking Alpha, I focus on dividend ETFs targeted towards income investors and retirees. Dividend ETFs focusing on bonds and fixed-income securities have seen significant dividend growth these past two years. Some offer incredibly compelling yields. Of these, five funds stand out. A quick look at these follows.

Juan's Top Dividend ETFs For 2024

FALN invests in recently downgraded bonds, known as fallen angels, which have historically outperformed high-yield corporate bond benchmarks. The fund has outperformed since inception and will, I believe, continue to outperform moving forward. I am assigning a buy rating to the fund based on its investment strategy and track record.

FALN: Fallen Angel ETF, Proven Investment Strategy, Strong Performance, 5.4% Yield

High-yield bonds offer higher yields as compensation for higher risks associated with lower credit ratings. The U.S. economy is in a stage between late cycle and recession, but there are signs of recovery in the near future. Understanding how bonds perform in different stages of the business cycle is key to investing in bonds successfully.

Contrarian Idea For 2024: High-Yield Bonds With FALN

VanEck Fallen Angel High Yield Bond ETF

First Trust Tactical High Yield ETF

Federal Reserve hikes have caused yields to increase across fixed-income asset classes. High-yield bonds and bond funds offer particularly high, growing yields. An overview of four of these funds follows.

4 Strong High-Yield Corporate Bond ETFs, With Yields Of 5.2% - 7.4%

The iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF seeks to provide investors with exposure to high yield corporate bonds that were previously rated investment grade. FALN has a reasonable management fee of 0.25% compared to other high yield fixed income ETFs. FALN has a very strong historical performance and has outperformed traditional high yield ETFs such as JNK and HYG on both an absolute and risk-adjusted basis.

FALN: A Great High Yield ETF With A Structural Edge

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF invests in high-yield bonds whose issuers previously had an investment grade rating. Since FALN's inception in 2016, it has outperformed all kinds of bond ETFs. An exception in the bond bear market, it is still above its 200-day moving average.

FALN: Fallen Angels, The Best Of High-Yield Bonds

FlexShares High Yield Value-Scored Bond Index Fund

High-yield corporate bond ETFs offer strong, growing dividends, with HYGV, FALN, and SPHY standing out as strong investment opportunities. HYGV provides a particularly strong 8.4% yield, FALN offers a strong performance track-record due to focusing on Fallen Angels, and SPHY has the lowest 0.04% expense ratio. These funds share characteristics such as strong yields and dividend growth, low interest rate risk, and high credit risk, making them suitable for income investors.

Best High-Yield Corporate Bond ETFs For Income Investors And Retirees

FALN and ANGL both invest in fallen angels or recently downgraded non-investment grade corporate bonds. ANGL is the larger, more well-known of the pair, but I think FALN is the stronger investment.

3 Reasons Why FALN Is Better Than ANGL

We take another look at FALN - a higher-quality High-Yield corporate bond ETF, having a portfolio yield of 7.6%. FALN has outperformed the broader High Yield corporate bond sector, including all but 1 HY CEFs in 5Y total NAV terms.

FALN: Update On This Strong-Performing Defensive High-Yield Bond Option

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

Invesco Senior Loan ETF

Invesco BulletShares 2025 Corporate Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate ETF

Pimco Senior Loan Active Exchange-Traded Fund

Invesco CEF Income Composite ETF

 SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF

BondBloxx BB-Rated USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

This week, the VettaFi Voices gathered around the water cooler to talk about fixed income.

VettaFi Voices on: What's Overlooked in Fixed Income

MicroSectors U.S. Big Banks Index -3X Inverse Leveraged ETN

MicroSectors U.S. Big Banks Index 3X Leveraged ETN

Invesco BulletShares 2023 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Invesco BulletShares 2024 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Invesco BulletShares 2025 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Invesco Bulletshares 2026 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Invesco BulletShares 2027 High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

PIMCO Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

Aptus Defined Risk ETF

Fidelity Corporate Bond ETF

Fidelity High Yield Factor ETF

Franklin Investment Grade Corporate ETF

Franklin Liberty High Yield Corporate ETF

First Trust Municipal High Income ETF

First Trust Nasdaq Bank ETF

GS ETF Trust Shs Access High Yield Corp Bond Fund

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF

Goldman Sachs Access Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares BB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

VanEck High Yield Muni ETF

Recent uncertainty, instigated by the issues seen across the financial sector, has led to a change in investment flows seen across exchange traded funds. A change in investment flows can be seen over the month of March as equity market volatility has increased.

ETF Flows, The Winners And Losers In Volatile Markets

The iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF (FALN) invests based on the Bloomberg Barclays US High Yield Fallen Angel 3% Capped Index. The VanEck Vectors Fallen Angel High Yield Bond ETF (ANGL) invests based on the ICE US Fallen Angel High Yield 10% Constrained Index.

FALN And ANGL: Fallen Angel ETF Tax Swap

FALN invests in high-yield bonds that were once investment-grade. Fallen Angel investing, as it is called, can be a decent way to seek alpha in normal bond markets.

FALN: It's Fallen And It Can't Get Up, For Now

iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF

Downgraded bonds have lower default rates.

Fallen Angel ETFs Show Their Good Side

Fallen angel junk bonds are now offering a nearly 7% SEC yield. Many investors dislike junk bonds, but I believe that there are many compelling reasons to include them as a part of a diversified portfolio.

FALN: (Fallen) Angels To Save You From The Coming Recession

The high-yield corporate bond market is finally living up to its name and trading at attractive yields. However, recession estimates are creeping higher, making an all-in jump into high-yield corporate bonds a difficult choice for more conservative investors.

FALN: Historic Outperformance Despite A More Defensive Stance

The FALN ETF invests in high-yield corporate bonds that have been downgraded from a previous investment-grade rating. The "fallen angels" strategy has an impressive long-term history of outperforming the broader high-yield bond market.

FALN: Up Against Rising Interest Rates And Growing Credit Risks

Dimensional International Core Equity Market ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China ETF

iShares Global Financials ETF

JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

Vanguard Real Estate ETF

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund

Investors favored these funds during a wild year.

ETFs With The Largest Asset Gains In 2021

Agree Realty

Dynex Capital

Main Street Capital

Realty Income Corp

iSh SP US PrfSt Shs

STAG Industrial

Monthly dividend stocks constitute a great addition to long-term portfolios, as they provide consistency to the income stream. The post 7 of the Best Monthly Dividend Stocks for 2022 to Buy Now appeared first on InvestorPlace.

7 of the Best Monthly Dividend Stocks for 2022 to Buy Now

Xtrackers Low Beta High Yield Bond ETF

Invesco Fundamental High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Lipper High Yield ETFs attracted $2.7 billion in new money last week after posting their largest weekly performance since the first week of September (+0.43%). Lipper High Yield classification has outperformed all other general domestic taxable fixed income Lipper classifications on a month-to-date (+0.48%), year-to-date (+4.88%), and trailing one-year basis (+8.22%).

Investor Interest Returns To Lipper High-Yield ETFs

How last year's market environment laid the groundwork for fallen angel ETFs to soar this year.

Fallen Angel ETFs Flying Above High Yield

A bear market in bonds. FALN facts, portfolio, performance and competitor.

FALN: Fallen Angels, The Last Standing Bonds

Xtrackers USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

JPMorgan High Yield Research Enhanced ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Investors turn to under-the-radar ETF choices in the junk bond space.

Overlooked High Yield ETFs Gain Traction

PIMCO Active Bond ETF

Fidelity Limited Term Bond ETF

First Trust Preferred Securities & Income ETF

SPDR SSgA Income Allocation ETF

In an earlier article, we discussed that in a market of low and stable / rising yields, open-end funds can provide similar performance to CEFs with much better risk control. In this article, we take a look at active ETFs, which provide the benefits of open-end funds alongside the active management of CEFs.

News for iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF ETF (FALN)