DIVI vs DLS

DIVIAFranklin International Core Dividend Tilt Index ETF

DLSCWisdomTree International SmallCap Dividend Fund

In short

DIVI A tilt, not a screen: DIVI optimizes a broad developed-markets ex-North America index toward higher yield while limiting drift from that parent. Core international shape, income lean, 0.09% a year.

DLS DLS goes where most international dividend funds don't: about 1,000 small companies across developed markets outside the US and Canada, screened for the dividends they pay. Running since 2006.

Stated mandate

DIVI The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Morningstar Developed Markets ex-North America Dividend Enhanced Select Index. Its index methodology seeks higher dividend yield than the parent index while maintaining core exposure to developed markets outside North America.

DLS The Fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree International SmallCap Dividend Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• DIVI Costs 0.09% a year, while the median fund in its international-dividend cohort charges closer to 0.50%.
• The index takes a broad developed ex-North America benchmark and optimizes it for higher yield while limiting expected tracking error to that parent. Income lean, core shape.sec.gov
• Tracks its index closely, among the strongest implementations in its peer group.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund holding about 80 developed-market names, paying distributions quarterly.

• DLS About 1,000 small-cap dividend payers from developed markets outside the US and Canada, a corner most international income funds skip entirely.
• Deep, spread-out portfolio: no single name dominates, which softens the blow when one holding stumbles.
• Tracks the WisdomTree International SmallCap Dividend Index closely, doing the job on the tin. Live since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• DIVI The tilt is mild by design: the index caps how far it can drift from its parent, so it reaches for less yield than funds built on hard high-yield screens.sec.gov
• Cheaper options sit in the same cohort (VYMI at 0.07%, SCHY at 0.08%), so the fee edge is over the category median, not over the largest index shops.
• Today's strategy dates to 2022, when the fund was renamed from Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, so its 2016-onward record covers a different mandate.sec.gov

• DLS 0.58% a year is above the typical international dividend ETF, and multiples of large-cap rivals like VYMI (0.07%) and SCHY (0.08%). Small-cap research abroad isn't cheap.
• Thinly traded for its size, so bid-ask spreads can widen, especially outside overlapping market hours.
• Foreign small caps move more sharply than global blue chips, and unhedged currency swings add a second source of bumpiness.

Full DIVI profile⁠

Full DLS profile⁠