Principal Spectrum Preferred and Income ETF
$18.93−0.09 (−0.47%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.60%
- Fund size
- $114M
- 1Y return
- +2.3%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 5.75%
- Holdings
- 101
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $18.97
- 52W range
The ETF.net PQDI Grade
Score 47 of 100 sits in the C band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.FScore 22Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 81Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 73Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.FScore 23Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 46Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.DScore 38Category rank
Our read on PQDI
CPreferred stock with a tax angle. PQDI actively picks global dollar-denominated preferred and capital securities screened toward payouts eligible for the lower qualified-dividend rate rather than ordinary-income treatment.
The Fund seeks to provide current income.
Why people hold it
- Built around the tax code: the mandate targets preferred and capital securities whose dividends are eligible for qualified-dividend treatment, a screen most preferred funds skip.principalam.combloomberg.com
- Active, not an index sleeve. Principal's Spectrum preferred team picks roughly 100 positions from across the global US dollar preferred and capital securities market.principalam.com
- Income shows up monthly, and the objective is stated plainly in the prospectus: current income, full stop.
Worth knowing
- At 0.60% a year, it runs above the median fee in its financials peer group and many times what index giants like XLF and VFH charge.
- Smaller fund, light trading. Spreads can be wider than on the household-name financial-sector ETFs, which matters most on larger orders.
- Preferred issuers cluster in banks and insurers, so this leans on financial-sector credit, and the tax-treatment edge only registers in taxable accounts.bloomberg.com
PQDI Holdings
- Bonds
- 101
- 26%
- WELLS FARGO + COMPANY JR SUBORDINA 12/99 VAR
Sectors
- Financials95.1%
- Communication4.9%
Geography
- United States47.00%
- Canada16.63%
- United Kingdom10.91%
- France9.13%
- Netherlands3.87%
- Switzerland3.64%
- Spain2.85%
- Finland2.04%
- 3.93%
Developed 98% · Emerging 2%
PQDI Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | PQDI |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +0.9% |
| 1 month | −0.8% |
| 3 months | −0.5% |
| 1 year | +2.3% |
| 3 years | +8.1% |
| 5 years | +2.8% |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | PQDI |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +0.9% | |
| 2025 | +8.5% | |
| 2024 | +10.0% | |
| 2023 | +6.3% | |
| 2022 | −9.6% | |
| 2021 | +3.1% | |
| 2020 | +9.8% |
PQDI in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on PQDI yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
PQDI Dividends
- 5.75%
- $1.09
- $0.08 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | $0.08 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 5, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.10 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 5, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 4, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 4, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Dec 29, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.09 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 3, 2025 | $0.08 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 5, 2025 | $0.09 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 3, 2025 | $0.09 |
PQDI Risk
- 4.2%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.89
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −17.4%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.55
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
PQDI Cost
- The middle half of Preferred Securities funds
- Median 0.50%
23 of the 31 Preferred Securities funds charge less.