WisdomTree ETFs

WisdomTree Investments Inc. just introduced 20 exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the NYSE all of which track dividend producing indexes. In addition, these new offerings use a fundamental weighting approach as opposed to the more traditional market capitalization weighting.

Six of the new ETFs are based on U.S. stock, fourteen are tied to international indexes, of which three each target Europe and Japan, two track the Pacific Rim minus Japan, and six are broadly based. Expenses for the domestic-stock ETFs range from 0.28% to 0.38% of assets and between 0.48% and 0.58% for the overseas funds.

Although there's more complexity in the details, these 20 ETFs are betting that companies with a record of increasing dividends will outperform those that don’t. This theory is based on Jeremy Siegel's, an award winning economist, research and 25 years of back-testing.

Whether you buy in to the weighting technique or not, WisdomTree is still filling an area that had yet to receive attention: international small and mid-sized stocks (i.e. the International MidCap Dividend Fund and International SmallCap Dividend Fund). Of course, should this area be successful, it is quite likely that the more established players like Barclays will step in to offer their own ETF.

Here's the complete list of WisdomTrees's offerings.