IDOG vs IGRO

IDOGCALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF

IGROAiShares International Dividend Growth ETF

In short

IDOG Dogs of the Dow, shipped overseas. IDOG buys the five highest-yielding stocks in each of ten sectors across developed markets outside the Americas, weights them equally, and reshuffles the list every November.

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

IDOG The fund seeks to track the S-Network International Sector Dividend Dogs 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

• IDOG Sector-neutral by construction: five names per sector, equally weighted. The yield screen cannot pile into financials and energy the way cap-weighted dividend funds often do.alpsfunds.comsec.gov
• Rules, not hunches: yields are ranked on the last trading day of November, the index reconstitutes annually and rebalances quarterly. About 50 stocks, none of them US or Canadian.alpsfunds.comsec.gov
• The prospectus targets a correlation of 0.95 or better with its index before fees, and the fund lands in the upper half of its international dividend peer group. Pays quarterly.sec.gov
• Running since 2013, with a US sibling (SDOG) applying the same sector-by-sector playbook to large-cap American stocks.alpsfunds.com

• 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

• IDOG The 0.50% fee matches the peer-group median, but plain index rivals undercut it hard: VYMI at 0.07% and SCHY at 0.08%.
• It trades lightly next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads can be wider and large orders need more care.
• A raw yield rank can scoop up companies whose payout looks big because the price fell, and the roster only resets once a year. Foreign dividends arrive unhedged.sec.govalpsfunds.com

• 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 IDOG profile⁠

Full IGRO profile⁠