Deep Dive
Financials drop 2.4% after the Fed's first hike since 2023 and a Bank of America fee warning
Principal Spectrum Preferred Securities Active ETF
$18.33+0.02 (+0.11%)
- 0.55%
- $1.9B
- +1.4%
- 5.52%
- 0.3M sh
- $18.33
- low $18.16high $19.32
The ETF.net PREF Grade
B
Score 59 out of 100
- 10 of 31
Score 59 of 100 falls in the B band. A is 70 or higher, B 55 to under 70, C 40 to under 55, D 25 to under 40, F under 25.
Cost
The fund’s net expense ratio, ranked against its category.C40 out of 100Rank 18 of 31Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.B56 out of 100Rank 19 of 26Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.A83 out of 100Rank 2 of 31Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.A82 out of 100Rank 5 of 31Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.B58 out of 100Rank 14 of 29Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.B62 out of 100Rank 14 of 31
Our read on PREF
BMost preferred ETFs shop the $25-par retail aisle. PREF goes where the institutions trade: $1,000-par preferreds, hand-picked by an active team since 2017, with income paid out monthly.
The fund is actively managed and does not seek to track a specified index.
Why people hold it
- Targets $1,000 par preferreds, the institutional-lot corner most preferred funds skip, with a mandate built around current income rather than index replication.principalam.com
- No benchmark to hug. Managers hold roughly 160 positions in preferred stock and junior subordinated debt from US and non-US issuers, and can shift as the market shifts.principalam.com
- Income lands monthly, not quarterly.
- Trading since 2017 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund: a seasoned strategy with a real book of assets behind it, not a launch-week experiment.
Worth knowing
- Active pricing: 0.55% a year against a 0.44% peer-group median, and broad financials index funds like VFH and XLF charge under a tenth of a percent for a very different job.
- There is no index to check the work against, so outcomes ride on the team's security selection.
- Preferreds rank below bonds in the capital stack and the issuers skew financial, so stress in banks and insurers shows up here.principalam.com
PREF Holdings
- Bonds
- 181
- 19%
- Bank of America Corp Jr Subordina 12/99 Var
Sectors
- Financials100.0%
Geography
- United States67.02%
- Canada23.65%
- Japan5.11%
- United Kingdom2.54%
- France1.41%
- Germany0.27%
PREF Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Not enough history yet.
PREF$10,144
Returns run to the Oct 12, 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 | PREF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | 0.0% |
| 1 month | −1.4% |
| 3 months | −2.1% |
| 1 year | +1.4% |
| 3 years | +8.7% |
| 5 years | +2.5% |
| 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 | PREF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | 0.0% | |
| 2025 | +7.6% | |
| 2024 | +11.4% | |
| 2023 | +7.4% | |
| 2022 | −11.8% | |
| 2021 | +2.1% | |
| 2020 | +7.5% |
PREF in the news
PREF Dividends
- 5.52%
- $1.01
- $0.09 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
PREF Risk
- 4.8%
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.
- 0.72
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.
- −16.2%
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.
- 0.58
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
PREF Cost
0.55%
PREF0.55%
- The middle half of Preferred Securities funds
- Median 0.50%
17 of the 31 Preferred Securities funds charge less.
Other funds in Preferred Securities
- BFPEFirst Trust Preferred Securities and Income ETFExpense ratio 0.83%1 year return −0.5%
- BGPRFGoldman Sachs Access U.S. Preferred Stock and Hybrid Securities ETFExpense ratio 0.45%1 year return −0.8%
- BCSSDCohen & Steers Short Duration Preferred and Income Active ETFExpense ratio 0.49%1 year return —
- BHBRDInvesco U.S. Hybrid Bond ETFExpense ratio 0.40%1 year return —
- BPGFInvesco Financial Preferred ETFExpense ratio 0.56%1 year return −7.7%