EFAD vs IGRO

EFADCProShares MSCI EAFE Dividend Growers ETF

IGROAiShares International Dividend Growth ETF

In short

EFAD The dividend-aristocrat playbook with a passport: EFAD holds developed-market companies outside the US that have raised dividends at least 10 straight years, weighted equally so no single mega-cap steers the ship.

IGRO Dividend growth, not dividend yield, taken overseas. IGRO tracks a Morningstar index of non-US companies with a habit of raising their payouts, spread across roughly 500 names, for a fee that undercuts most of the international dividend shelf.

Stated mandate

EFAD The Fund seeks to track the MSCI EAFE Dividend Masters Index before fees and expenses.

IGRO The fund seeks to track an index of international stocks with a history of growing dividends, providing dividend-focused international equity exposure for income and long-term growth.

Why people hold it

• EFAD Strict door policy: holdings must have increased dividends every year for at least a decade, drawn from large and mid caps in developed markets outside the US and Canada.sec.govproshares.com
• Equal weighting, a 30% sector cap and roughly 80 names keep one giant or one sector from steering the portfolio.sec.gov
• Live since 2014, run as plain index replication, and it has tracked its benchmark closely. Pays quarterly.sec.gov

• IGRO Costs 0.15% a year, well under the typical fee for an international dividend screen.
• Does what the label says: it follows the Morningstar Global ex-US Dividend Growth Index closely, one of the tightest index-to-portfolio matches in its peer group.
• Roughly 500 non-US payers, so no single dividend carries the fund. Cash goes out quarterly.

Worth knowing

• EFAD The 0.50% fee matches its cohort median but sits well above international dividend index rivals like VIGI (0.07%) and IGRO (0.15%).
• Thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than in the category's heavyweights.
• Built-in release valve: if fewer than 40 names clear the 10-year bar, shorter streaks get in, and one country may carry up to half the index weight.sec.gov

• IGRO It trades thin next to heavyweights like VYMI, so limit orders and calmer mid-session trading matter more here.
• The screen targets payout growth, not the fattest yields, so income tends to run lighter than yield-first international funds.
• Cheaper neighbors exist: VIGI at 0.07% and SCHY at 0.08%, though each tracks a different index with a different holdings list.

Full EFAD profile⁠

Full IGRO profile⁠