VanEck Pref Secs ex Fincls ETF’s management team is rated Average, but a solid investment process still helps this strategy retain its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the lowest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's effective investment philosophy earns it an Above Average Process Pillar rating. The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an 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

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. VanEck Pref Secs ex Fincls ETF earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.    The most important driver of the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Impressive risk-adjusted performance also strengthens the process. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the managers have shown skill in their allocation of risk. Lastly, the process is limited by its parent firm's inferior risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 2.6 stars. A lower star rating suggests that the firm has struggled to outperform on a risk-adjusted basis.

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


The investment seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ICE Exchange-Listed Fixed & Adjustable Rate Non-Financial Preferred Securities Index (the "Preferred Securities Index").  The fund normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in securities that comprise the fund's benchmark index. The index is comprised of U.S. exchange-listed hybrid debt, and preferred stock and convertible preferred stock issued by non-financial corporations. The fund is non-diversified.

 This strategy has a 7.7% 12-month yield, higher than its average peer's 5.9%. Plus, its 30-day SEC yield (a measure similar to yield-to-maturity) sits at 6.9%. While a higher yield may deliver more income, it also tends to indicate higher credit risk.

Above Average

Process

VanEck’s  team is comparable to peers, resulting in an Average People Pillar rating. The fund takes a solo manager approach, with Peter Liao as the only listed manager at the helm, who brings 18 years of portfolio management experience to the table. They manage over 25 strategies, with a Bronze asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, demonstrating their potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate. With only one manager listed on the strategy, the passive strategy is vulnerable to key-person risk. 

 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.

Average

People

VanEck’s ownership structure and specialization make it unique among industry peers. The firm’s founding family and namesake still have control, and its product lineup still reflects its legacy as a specialist in niche market segments. VanEck earns an Average Parent Pillar rating. 

Founded by John van Eck in 1955, the firm staked its claim in the industry by capitalizing on burgeoning markets. Starting with the opening of Western Europe to U.S.-based investors in the wake of the Marshall Plan, VanEck’s largest and most successful products provide exposure to areas of the market that are off the beaten path, such as hard assets, emerging-markets debt, and below-investment-grade-rated corporate debt.

Through its history, VanEck has taken an opportunistic approach to product development. For instance, since 2018, VanEck has launched strategies that provide exposures ranging from international REITs to companies involved in video game development. Regardless of where their reach takes them, however, VanEck builds a case that the strategy will be relevant over the long term and that its risks must be easy to understand. However, not all its products catch on, and the firm has shuttered several offerings in the last decade. 

VanEck remains a privately held firm, wholly owned by CEO Jan van Eck and his family. Although this enables the firm to focus on the long term and the firm offers some employees participation in profits, the firm hasn’t used equity as a recruiting and retention tool and introduces some key-person risk in the executive suite.

Parent

VanEck Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF

PFXF tracks an index comprised of USD denominated preferred securities and securities that the index provider deems to be functionally equivalent. Securities issued by financial firms are excluded.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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News for VanEck Preferred Securities ex Financials ETF ETF (PFXF)