SDVD and TDVI utilize Cboe Vest’s proprietary Target Income Strategy® seeking to produce current income from Small-Mid Cap Rising Dividend Achievers and Technology Dividend Stocks
First Trust Advisors L.P. (“First Trust” or “FTA”), a leading provider of exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) and outcome-based strategies, today announced it has launched the FT Cboe Vest SMID Rising Dividend Achievers Target Income ETF (Cboe: SDVD) and the FT Cboe Vest Technology Dividend Target Income ETF (Cboe: TDVI). Both funds are actively managed ETFs that seek to provide investors with current income and have a secondary objective of capital appreciation. The Target Income Strategy® used by SDVD and TDVI (the “funds”) was developed by Cboe Vest Financial LLC (“Cboe Vest”), sub-advisor to the funds.
The Target Income Strategy® seeks to increase total income for investors while participating in the potential price appreciation of the equities held in the portfolios. Each fund’s portfolio consists of two components – dividend-paying equities and a rolling series of covered calls. The combination of dividends from the equities and premiums generated from selling (writing) call options provides two consistent sources of income potential. Each fund compares the dividend income of the equity securities against its target income and looks to bridge any difference with the premiums from the call options. The process is repeated weekly.
- SDVD invests primarily in U.S. exchange-traded equity securities contained in the Nasdaq US Small-Mid Cap Rising Dividend AchieversTM Index which is composed of high quality, small- and mid-capitalization companies with a history of raising their dividends while exhibiting the characteristics to continue to do so in the future. SDVD will invest in the equities and simultaneously write (sell) U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Russell 2000® Index or ETFs that track the Russell 2000® Index. The fund seeks to make distributions from stock dividends and option premiums at an annual rate that is approximately 8.0% (before fees and expenses) over the current annual dividend yield of the Russell 2000® Index. The Russell 2000® Index annual dividend yield for 2022 was 1.63%. (Source: Bloomberg)
- TDVI invests primarily in U.S. exchange-traded equity securities contained in the Nasdaq US Technology Dividend IndexTM which is composed of stocks classified as technology or telecommunications companies with a history of paying dividends while exhibiting the characteristics to continue to do so in the future. TDVI will invest in the equities and simultaneously write U.S. exchange-traded call options on the Nasdaq-100® Index and/or the S&P 500® Index or ETFs that track the Nasdaq-100® Index and/or the S&P 500® Index. The fund seeks to make distributions from stock dividends and option premiums at an annual rate that is approximately 8.0% (before fees and expenses) over the current annual dividend yield of the Nasdaq-100® Index. The Nasdaq-100® Index annual dividend yield for 2022 was 0.99%. (Source: Bloomberg)
There is no guarantee that a fund’s income target will be achieved. The funds do not seek to achieve any specific level of total return performance compared with the total return performance of the Russell 2000® Index, S&P 500® Index or the Nasdaq-100® Index (the "Indexes"). Capital appreciation on the securities held by the funds may be less than the capital appreciation of the Indexes, and the total return performance of the funds may be less than the total return performance of the Indexes. The equity securities held by the funds will be selected by the portfolio managers from the common stocks and depositary receipts in the Indexes.
Jeff Chang, President of Cboe Vest, said, “The first generation of simple call-writing options strategies sell fully-covered options to produce income, and in doing so, give up the majority of the potential future growth opportunities of the securities. In 2017, Cboe Vest developed the Target Income partial covered call strategy, seeking to produce consistent current income and allow participation in the potential growth of stocks. We are pleased to extend this strategy to SDVD and TDVI.”
“Investments seeking to monetize volatility by strategically writing call options have grown more popular over the past couple years,” said Ryan Issakainen, CFA, Senior Vice President, ETF Strategist at First Trust. “We believe SDVD and TDVI will be effective tools for investors seeking a relatively high level of current income with the potential to meaningfully participate in the upside price appreciation of two popular dividend strategies.”
For more information about First Trust, please contact Ryan Issakainen at (630) 765-8689 or RIssakainen@FTAdvisors.com.
About First Trust
First Trust is a federally registered investment advisor and serves as the funds’ investment advisor. First Trust and its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P. (“FTP”), a FINRA registered broker-dealer, are privately held companies that provide a variety of investment services. First Trust has collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $206 billion as of July 31, 2023, through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts. First Trust is the supervisor of the First Trust unit investment trusts, while FTP is the sponsor. FTP is also a distributor of mutual fund shares and exchange-traded fund creation units. First Trust and FTP are based in Wheaton, Illinois. For more information, visit www.ftportfolios.com.
About Cboe Vest:
Cboe Vest is the creator of Target Outcome Investments®, which strive to buffer losses, manage volatility, amplify gains or provide consistent income to a diverse spectrum of investors. Today, Cboe Vest’s Target Outcome Strategies® are available in mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), unit investment trusts (UITs), collective investment trusts (CITs), variable insurance trusts (VITs) and customizable managed accounts/sub-advisory services. For more information visit www.cboevest.com or contact Linda Werner at lwerner@cboevest.com or 703-864-5483.
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Risk Considerations
You could lose money by investing in a fund. An investment in a fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed. There can be no assurance that a fund’s objective(s) will be achieved. Investors buying or selling shares on the secondary market may incur customary brokerage commissions. Please refer to each fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information for additional details on a fund’s risks. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.
Unlike mutual funds, shares of the fund may only be redeemed directly from a fund by authorized participants in very large creation/redemption units. If a fund’s authorized participants are unable to proceed with creation/redemption orders and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, fund shares may trade at a premium or discount to a fund’s net asset value and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread may widen.
A fund’s use of call options involves risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions and depends on the ability of a fund’s portfolio managers to forecast market movements correctly. As the seller (writer) of a call option, a fund will tend to lose money if the value of the reference index or security rises above the strike price. When writing a call option, a fund will have no control over the exercise of the option by the option holder and the American style options sold by a fund may be exercised at any time before the option expiration date (as opposed to the European style options which may be exercised only on the expiration date). There may be times a fund needs to sell securities in order to settle the options, which may constitute a return of capital and make a fund less tax-efficient than other ETFs. Options may also involve the use of leverage, which could result in greater price volatility than other markets.
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A fund may be subject to the risk that a counterparty will not fulfill its obligations which may result in significant financial loss to a fund.
Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the Fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine which has caused and could continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility within the markets in Russia, Europe, and the United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those hostilities have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain Fund investments as well as Fund performance and liquidity. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects.
A fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. Such events could cause a fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss.
Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market and distributions may be subject to a fee. Holders may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact their value.
The use of derivatives instruments involves different and possibly greater risks than investing directly in securities including counterparty risk, valuation risk, volatility risk, and liquidity risk. Further, losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate may be magnified by certain features of the derivatives.
A fund normally pays its income as distributions and therefore, a fund may be required to reduce its distributions if it has insufficient income. Additionally at times, a fund may need to sell securities when it would not otherwise do so and could cause distributions from that sale to constitute return of capital. Because of this, a fund may not be an appropriate investment for investors who do not want their principal investment in a fund to decrease over time or who do not wish to receive return of capital in a given period.
Companies that issue dividend-paying securities are not required to continue to pay dividends on such securities. Therefore, there is a possibility that such companies could reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends in the future.
Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.
Financial services companies are subject to the adverse effects of economic recession, currency exchange rates, government regulation, decreases in the availability of capital, volatile interest rates, portfolio concentration in geographic markets, industries or products, and competition from new entrants in their fields of business.
A fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or models which could greatly affect a fund’s trading activity, size and volatility.
Industrials and producer durables companies are subject to certain risks, including the general state of the economy, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics, excess capacity and consumer demand and spending trends. They may also be significantly affected by overall capital spending levels, economic cycles, technical obsolescence, delays in modernization, labor relations, and government regulations.
As inflation increases, the present value of a fund’s assets and distributions may decline.
Leverage may result in losses that exceed the amount originally invested and may accelerate the rates of losses. Leverage tends to magnify, sometimes significantly, the effect of any increase or decrease in a fund’s exposure to an asset or class of assets and may cause the value of a fund’s shares to be volatile and sensitive to market swings.
Certain fund investments may be subject to restrictions on resale, trade over-the-counter or in limited volume, or lack an active trading market. Illiquid securities may trade at a discount and may be subject to wide fluctuations in market value.
The portfolio managers of an actively managed portfolio will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not have the desired result.
Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of a fund in general may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as general economic conditions, political events, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in value or underperform other investments as a result. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious disease or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters or other events could have significant negative impact on a fund.
A fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for fund shares due to a limited number of market makers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of a fund’s portfolio securities and a fund’s market price.
Large inflows and outflows may impact a new fund’s market exposure for limited periods of time.
A fund classified as “non-diversified” may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, a fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly concentrated in certain issuers.
Securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to additional risks, including currency fluctuations, political risks, withholding, lack of liquidity, lack of adequate financial information, and exchange control restrictions impacting non-U.S. issuers.
A fund and a fund’s advisor may seek to reduce various operational risks through controls and procedures, but it is not possible to completely protect against such risks. The fund also relies on third parties for a range of services, including custody, and any delay or failure related to those services may affect the fund’s ability to meet its objective.
The prices of options are volatile and the effective use of options depends on a fund’s ability to terminate option positions at times deemed desirable to do so. There is no assurance that a fund will be able to effect closing transactions at any particular time or at an acceptable price.
A fund’s investment in equity securities and written call options are not correlated, meaning the performance is independent of one another. Market events may impact one position held by a fund more than the other position and the returns from a fund’s investments in equity securities and written call options may not move in the same direction as one another.
High portfolio turnover may result in higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders.
The market price of a fund’s shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the fund’s net asset value (“NAV”) as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the exchange, and a fund’s investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV.
A fund with significant exposure to a single asset class, country, region, industry, or sector may be more affected by an adverse economic or political development than a broadly diversified fund.
Securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies may experience greater price volatility and be less liquid than larger, more established companies.
If a fund does not qualify as a RIC for any taxable year and certain relief provisions were not available, a fund’s taxable income would be subject to tax at the fund level and to a further tax at the shareholder level when such income is distributed. Further, there may be other tax implications to a fund based on the type of investments in a fund.
Trading on an exchange may be halted due to market conditions or other reasons. There can be no assurance that a fund’s requirements to maintain the exchange listing will continue to be met or be unchanged.
A fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including “fair valued” assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. There is no assurance that a fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time.
First Trust Advisors L.P. is the adviser to the fund. First Trust Advisors L.P. is an affiliate of First Trust Portfolios L.P., the fund’s distributor.
The information presented is not intended to constitute an investment recommendation for, or advice to, any specific person. By providing this information, First Trust is not undertaking to give advice in any fiduciary capacity within the meaning of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or any other regulatory framework. Financial professionals are responsible for evaluating investment risks independently and for exercising independent judgment in determining whether investments are appropriate for their clients.
Cboe® is a registered trademark of Cboe Exchange, Inc., which has been licensed for use in the name of the fund. The fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or marketed by Cboe Exchange, Inc. or any of its affiliates (“Cboe”) or their respective third-party providers, and Cboe and its third-party providers make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in the fund and shall have no liability whatsoever in connection with the fund.
Nasdaq® and Nasdaq US Small Mid Cap Rising Dividend Achievers™ Index and Nasdaq Technology Dividend Index™ are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the “Corporations”) and are licensed for use by First Trust. The fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.
Target Outcome Investments®, Target Outcome Strategies®, Target Income Strategies® and Target Income ETF® are registered trademarks of Cboe Vest Financial LLC.
Definitions:
An option is a contractual obligation between a buyer and a seller. There are two types of options known as “calls” and “puts.” The buyer of a call option has the right, but not the obligation, to purchase an agreed upon quantity of an underlying asset from the writer (seller) of the option at a predetermined price (the strike price) within a certain window of time (until the option’s expiration), creating a long position. A put option is the opposite of a call option and gives the buyer the right to sell to the writer (seller) the underlying asset at the strike price until the option’s expiration. If the strike price is reached, the buyer has the right to exercise the option. For this right, the buyer pays a fee to the seller, called a premium.
The S&P 500® Index is an unmanaged index of 500 companies used to measure large-cap U.S. stock market performance.
The Nasdaq US Rising Dividend Achievers™ Index is comprised of 50 companies with a history of raising their dividends. These companies also exhibit the characteristics to continue to do so in the future.
The Nasdaq-100® Index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization.
The Nasdaq Technology Dividend Index™ includes up to 100 Technology and Telecommunications companies that pay a regular or common dividend.
The Russell 2000® Index is comprised of the smallest 2000 companies in the Russell 3000 Index, representing approximately 8% of the Russell 3000 total market capitalization. Russell 3000 is comprised of 3,000 large U.S. companies, as determined by market capitalization. It captures approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market.
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Contacts
Ryan Issakainen
First Trust
(630) 765-8689
RIssakainen@FTAdvisors.com
