Principal Global Investors on Wednesday expanded its existing lineup of factor-based exchange-traded funds with the launch of three new products that all rank their portfolios according to three factors: value, quality growth and momentum.
The value factor is based on shareholder yield, which measures the collective financial impact on a company's shareholders from the return of free cash flow through cash dividends, stock repurchases and debt reduction. This aims to identify securities with low prices relative to their fundamental value.
Quality growth incorporates consistent sales growth, earnings quality and growth, and profitability while accounting for price volatility.
Momentum pertains to price momentum over multiple time horizons.
All three products are based on Nasdaq indexes and employ modified market-cap weighting to give greater weight to securities that rank higher based on the three factors.
The funds comprise the following:
• Principal U.S. Large-Cap Multi-Factor Core Index ETF (PLC)
• Principal U.S. Small-MidCap Multi-Factor Core Index ETF (PSM)
• Principal International Multi-Factor Core Index ETF (PDEV)
PDEV’s index focuses on large- and mid-cap companies in developed markets outside of the U.S. and Korea. Its net expense ratio is 0.25 percent.
The U.S. large-cap ETF has the lowest cost at 0.15%, while the U.S. small- and mid-cap offering charges 0.20%. All three funds are among the most cost-effective in the multifactor ETF category.
Principal positions these multifactor core ETFs as foundational pieces for investor portfolios that are designed to complement alpha-generating, high-active strategies.