WisdomTree Emerging Markets Quality Dividend Growth Fund (DGRE)

Dividend ETFs like TDV, TDIV, and GCOW are hitting 52-week highs as market volatility has boosted demand for steady income.

In 2025, emerging markets are anything but uniform, with Poland up over 35% while Thailand has plunged nearly 12%, highlighting the massive dispersion beneath the modest 5.7% year-to-date gain of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Latin America has quietly outperformed thanks to stability and low expectations, while parts of Asia have disappointed due to weak exports, political uncertainty and fading commodity tailwinds. The WisdomTree Emerging Markets High Dividend Fund aims to thrive on yield and value in politically re-rating markets like Poland and Colombia.

Considering U.S. interest rates remain elevated and the dollar has been strong for much of this year, emerging markets equities have notched impressive performances in 2024. Though well behind the S&P 500, the widely followed MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up 8.3% year-to-date.

By Jeff Weniger, CFA, Head of Equity Strategy Key Takeaways South Korea's classification as an “emerging” or “developed” market affects funds' allocations, with some emerging markets funds having no exposure to the country. The “Korea Discount” refers to the low valuations placed on South Korea's stocks relative to stocks in other countries.

Investors appear increasingly optimistic regarding equity performance in the second half. However, frothy markets continue to create challenges this quarter and advisors looking to find opportunities within equities this year don't want to miss the recent 2024 Equity Symposium hosted by VettaFi.

By Liqian Ren, Director of Modern Alpha Two common inquiries from clients regarding an emerging markets portfolio are the appropriate weight for China and the extent of currency hedging required. In our most actively managed emerging markets multifactor strategy and corresponding ETF, we address these concerns.

By Matt Wagner, CFA Associate Director, Research In May of this year, WisdomTree rebalanced the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Quality Dividend Growth Fund (DGRE) completely away from China, bringing its 29% weight in China at the time down to 0%.

WisdomTree Emerging Markets Quality Dividend Growth Fund ETF is an actively managed fund. It has dropped Chinese stocks, cutting exposure to geopolitical risks. Technology represents about 25% of assets.

A key driver of long-term compound returns is dividend growth, which is driven by corporate profitability. Using over 50 years of data, a strategy that identified the top 20% of stocks by profitability posted annual returns of 11.73%, outperforming the lowest ROE group by 451 basis points per year. Profitable companies with excellent margins and efficient assets have the potential for faster dividend growth rates in the future.

Despite a tough market selloff, firms paid out record numbers of dividends in 2022, offering dividend ETFs a major source of current income for their holders.

DGRE is an actively managed dividend ETF in emerging markets. Like many EM funds, it is heavily exposed to risks related to China.

Liqian Ren, Ph.D. and director of modern alpha for WisdomTree, spoke with Pranjul Bhandari, HSBC managing director and chief India economist, as well as Aneeka Gupta, director of macroeconomic research for WisdomTree, on the most recent China of Tomorrow podcast from WisdomTree.

The widely followed MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up 6% year-to-date, as of July, and while that's a decent showing, it's also a far cry from the 16% returned by the S&P 500. There are still risks to consider in developing economies, presenting continued opportunity for model portfolio investing.

When choosing a dividend growth ETF, dividends aren't the only thing that matter. The cost to hold the ETF over time is an important consideration.

With so much talk about the return of dividend growth in the U.S., it can be easy for investors to overlook the payout potency of international stocks. Indeed, there's ample room for payouts in developing economies to grow.

Past experience shows us that emerging markets have historically reacted positively to higher global rates, especially if the latter reflects an improving global growth outlook. Most emerging markets will start normalizing rates well before the U.S. and developed markets.