Fidelity Preferred Securities & Inc ETF’s Process Pillar rating is Average, but a strong management team still helps this strategy retain its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the second-lowest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy’s management team earns a High People Pillar rating. The fund earns an Average Process 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

JPMorgan Chase & Co

AT&T

Wells Fargo

Morgan Stanley

Bank of America

Public Storage

WESCO

Stifel Financial

Allstate

Athene Holding Ltd. Class A

Morningstar's evaluation of this fund's process seeks to understand management's investment philosophy, and whether it has been applied consistently over time and can add value across the market cycle. Fidelity Preferred Securities & Inc ETF earns an Average Process Pillar rating.    The largest contributor to the rating is the parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 64%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and beat their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. The parent firm's impressive risk-adjusted performance, as shown by its average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars, also influences the rating. Lastly, the process is limited by the parent firm's five-year retention rate of 72%, which suggests it could do more to hold onto its portfolio managers.

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


The investment seeks high total return through a combination of current income and capital appreciation.  The fund normally invests at least 80% of the fund's assets in preferred securities and other income-producing securities. It normally invests in all types of preferred securities and other income-producing securities such as contingent convertible securities and corporate hybrid securities. The fund primarily invests in securities rated at least BB by S&P, Ba by Moodys, comparably rated by at least one nationally recognized credit rating agency, or, if unrated, and considered by FMR to be of comparable quality. It is non-diversified.

 This strategy's 12-month yield is 4.9%, lower than its average peers' 5.9%. In addition, it has a 5.0% 30-day SEC yield (a measure similar to yield-to-maturity). Typically, a lower yield comes with the benefit of less credit risk. But that isn't always the case. Over the past 12 months, the average yield of the fund has been lower than the average yield of its Morningstar Category peers. The portfolio's average surveyed credit quality is on par with peers, with both the fund and the average being rated BB.

Average

Process

Fidelity Preferred Securities & Inc ETF earns a High People Pillar rating. Adam Kramer, the longest-tenured manager on the strategy, provides strong guidance, offering 16 years of listed portfolio management experience. The strategies they currently manage have an average Morningstar Rating of 3.1 stars, demonstrating average risk-adjusted performance compared with category peers. The team is small but adequately equipped, with two other supporting listed managers. Together, the three boast eight years of average listed portfolio management experience.  None of the managers here invest any money in the strategy, which is disappointing, as such investments help align managers' interests with fundholders. 

 Note: The People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. The longest-tenured manager of the fund also manages a different product rated by an analyst. Their analyst-assigned People Pillar rating is combined here with the People scores (algorithmic or analyst-assigned) for the fund’s other managers on a tenure-weighted basis.

High

People

Fidelity earns an Above Average Parent rating because of its ability to stay ahead of its competition.

The firm's successful stock-picking mutual funds fueled its rise to prominence, and it has adapted well to investor preferences that have shifted markedly over the past two decades. Index funds and exchange-traded funds have garnered most of the industry's flows as money has gushed from actively managed products—Fidelity's included. Yet overall, the asset-management division has continued to achieve positive organic growth by introducing or maintaining aggressive pricing on its own suite of passively managed funds and expanding its menu of client-demanded investment structures, such as managed accounts and collective investment trusts. These moves are made possible by the firm's strong distribution network, scale, established brand, and willingness to tolerate losses on some products in pursuit of broader strategic objectives.

The firm is not without blemishes. It could stand to rationalize its lineup of active equity funds and do better to maintain continuity in an equity fund's portfolio construction as the fund's leadership inevitably changes.

Overall, the firm has served its funds' investors well. It boasts a topnotch fixed-income division and remains home to some of the industry's most talented equity managers and a strong team supporting its well-run target-date series.

Above Average

Parent

Fidelity Preferred Securities & Income ETF

FPFD actively invests in preferred and other income producing securities rated at least BB, issued by domestic and foreign issuers, with no specific target maturity.

Elkhorn S&P High Quality Preferred ETF

First Trust Preferred Securities & Income ETF

First Trust Institutional Preferred Securities & Income ETF

iSh SP US PrfSt Shs

Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF

Global X U.S. Preferred ETF

InfraCap REIT Preferred ETF

Global X Variable Rate Preferred ETF

AAM Low Duration Preferred and Income Sec ETF

VanEck Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF

Invesco Financial Preferred ETF

Invesco Preferred ETF

Principal Spectrum Preferred Secs Active ETF

Pimco Preferred And Capital Securities Active ETF

SPDR Wells Fargo Preferred Stock ETF

Global X SuperIncome Preferred ETF

We take a look at the action in preferreds and baby bonds through the second week of April and highlight some of the key themes we are watching.

Preferreds Weekly Review: Bond Interest Deferral Worries Investors

We take a look at the action in preferreds and baby bonds through the fourth week of March and highlight some of the key themes we are watching. Preferreds had a good week as Treasury yields fell on the back of the Fed's more dovish than expected stance. We take a look at how stocks with different spreads over SOFR could react to Fed's cuts.

Preferreds Weekly Review: Keep An Eye On The Spread Of Floating-Rate Preferreds

We take a look at the action in preferreds and baby bonds through the third week of March and highlight some of the key themes we are watching. Preferreds were down for the week due to rising Treasury yields, but most preferred CEF sectors remain positive for the month. Albemarle issued a new preferred stock with a mandatory convertible feature, offering upside participation with less downside than the common and a higher coupon.

Preferreds Weekly Review: Mandatory Convertibles Offer High-Beta Preferred Exposure

Synchrony Financial

We take a look at the action in preferreds and baby bonds through the fourth week of February and highlight some of the key themes we are watching. Preferreds had a strong week with a 1%+ return, driven by a drop in Treasury yields and compression in credit spreads. Different preferreds sectors have different drawdown profiles, offering investors an opportunity to tilt to more resilient securities in anticipation of the next drawdown.

Preferreds Weekly Review: Historic Drawdowns Are Relevant Again

John Hancock Preferred Income ETF

Invesco Variable Rate Preferred ETF

PFFA is a well-diversified and consistently top-performing preferred stock ETF, enabled by management's bold allocation strategy.

U.S. Preferred Stocks Look Attractive And PFFA Is A Top-Performing Preferred Stocks ETF

We take a look at the action in preferreds and baby bonds through the second week of February and highlight some of the key themes we are watching. Preferreds were flat on the week as higher Treasury yields were offset by tighter credit spreads. A high yield-to-call is not a sufficient reason to buy a given preferred.

Preferreds Weekly Review: A High Yield-To-Call Is Not Enough

We take a look at the action in preferreds and baby bonds through the fourth week of January and highlight some of the key themes we are watching. Preferred stock and baby bond market had a good week with most sectors finishing in the green. The article discusses the curious case of Aspen insurer preferred AHL.PR.C and how the coupon conversion worked on the first call date.

Preferreds Weekly Review: AHL Preferred Gets Stuck Near Libor Peak

On Thursday, June 17, Fidelity Investments launched a new active bond ETF, the Fidelity Preferred Securities & Income ETF (FPFD). FPFD is the first preferred securities product from Fidelity.

News for Fidelity Preferred Securities & Income ETF ETF (FPFD)