How the Quality Factor Has Outperformed in 3 Charts
Dec. 10, 2024One of the most intuitive smart beta factors is quality investing. Quality-based investing is built to identify market leading companies with sustainable competitive advantages. As market participation has broadened among equities, much attention has been paid to how best to allocate into vehicles poised to benefit. Equal-weight strategies are one method; however, research shows that a high-quality focus has also earned a premium while reducing risk over longer periods of time relative to the broader market.1
As shown below, BMO ETFs’ factor-screening indexes have benefitted by using a fundamentally weighted methodology with a 5% single-name cap. The weight of each name in the index is determined by market capitalization adjusted for a proprietary ‘Quality’ score based on a publicly available methodology (more on this further below).
Featured ETFs
- BMO MSCI USA High Quality Index ETF (Ticker: ZUQ)
- BMO MSCI USA High Quality Index ETF Hedged Units (Ticker: ZUQ.F)
- BMO MSCI USA High Quality Index ETF US Dollar Units (Ticker: ZUQ.U)
- BMO MSCI All Country World High Quality Index ETF (Ticker: ZGQ)
- BMO MSCI Europe High Quality Hedged to CAD Index ETF (Ticker: ZEQ)
- BMO MSCI EAFE High Quality Index ETF (Ticker: ZIQ)
Part of the value is in the meaningful difference from traditional market capitalization indices where Quality provides effective exposure throughout the entire market cycle. Furthermore, higher quality screening avoids inexpensive stocks masquerading as bargains.
Underscoring the factor’s track record is the comparison of the MSCI Quality Indexes to their corollary U.S., European and global market-cap indexes. In all three regions, high-quality equities have consistently overperformed, as shown in the charts below:
BMO MSCI USA High Quality Index ETF (ZUQ) vs. MSCI USA Index
BMO MSCI Europe High Quality Hedged to CAD Index ETF (ZEQ) vs. MSCI Europe Index
BMO MSCI All Country World High Quality Index ETF (ZGQ) vs. MSCI ACWI Index
Methodology
BMO Quality ETFs track the performance of MSCI quality indices which are a subset of the broad market parent indices. Security selection relies on the determination of the three Quality variables. Weighting is based on a combination of the security’s Quality scores and market capitalization. Quality indices are rebalanced semi-annually.
BMO ETFs’ Full Suite of Quality ETFs
BMO MSCI USA High Quality Index |
BMO MSCI All Country World High Quality Index ETF |
BMO MSCI Europe High Quality Hedged to CAD Index |
NEW!! BMO MSCI EAFE High Quality Index ETF |
Distribution Frequency: |
Distribution Frequency: |
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Management Fee: |
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Risk Rating: 6 |
Risk Rating: 6 |
Risk Rating: 6 |
Risk Rating: 6 |
For more detailed methodology information regarding the Quality variables, security composition scoring, security selection, weighting and index maintenance, visit the MSCI indices website:
1MSCI Research Report “Quality Time,” June 2023.
2Return (Risk-Adjusted): A measure of investment performance taking into consideration how much risk/volatility was assumed to generate it. Consider two investments, both of which return 10% over a given time period. The investment with the greater risk-adjusted return would be the one that experienced less price fluctuation. Two of the most commonly used measures of risk adjusted returns are Sharpe and Sortino ratios.
Performance Data (%)
Fund |
Year-to-Date |
1-Month |
3-Month |
6-Month |
1-Year |
3-Year |
5-Year |
10-Year |
Since Inception |
34.73 |
4.98 |
7.51 |
14.83 |
37.87 |
14.83 |
17.64 |
17.00 |
17.21 |
|
26.40 |
4.35 |
3.22 |
11.14 |
32.22 |
10.19 |
- |
- |
15.49 |
|
27.50 |
4.40 |
3.48 |
11.78 |
33.62 |
11.37 |
- |
- |
16.62 |
|
28.68 |
3.10 |
4.21 |
9.89 |
31.74 |
11.59 |
15.39 |
14.46 |
14.69 |
|
4.26 |
-0.62 |
-7.16 |
-5.54 |
8.25 |
3.42 |
7.39 |
8.55 |
9.05 |
|
Returns are not available as there is less than one year’s performance data. |
As of November 30, 2024. Inception date for ZUQ and ZGQ was November 5, 2014.
Inception date for ZUQ.F and ZUQ.U was July 17, 2020.
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