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BMO Dow Jones Indus. Avg. Hedge ETFZWA.TOCOMMENTAug 27, 2015Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 15, 2026. Market Open.
His least favourite BMO ETF, terrible way to get exposure to US equities. Not because it's BMO or because of the structure, but because it's the Dow. DJIA is weighted by the size of a company's stock, so higher prices get more weight than lower. Terrible index.
He'd much prefer an ETF that's in the S&P 500 or an equal-weight US market exposure.
Likes it. A little more restricted than the ZWH, and the yield is about 1.5% lower than that one. Might be better for growth instead of income.
Increasing US exposure in the TSX ETF? There are a couple he would look at. BMO Dow Jones Indus. Avg. Hedge (ZWA-T), which is a covered call on the Dow stocks, as well as BMO US High Dividend Covered Call (ZWH-T) which is based on the higher dividend paying S&P. He likes both of these. They are more expensive because they are Covered Calls, but is quite impressed with the value added. He has a lot of these.
He likes covered call strategies during the summer. If we are expecting a flat to negative print on the broad market tape, then really you want to be in some of these covered call names. In a higher trending market, you are going to be called away from these positions, which is detrimental to the price of these covered call ETFS. In a flat to negative trending market, you are benefiting from the covered call overlay, which is 2% above the benchmark yield of about 2.7%.
We have to remember what a Covered Call is. Money comes into this ETF and there is an obligation to Sell stock at a particular price. Covered Calls can limit your upside. Covered calls look great in a trendless market. You don’t want markets way up and you don’t want markets way down. It definitely adds income to your portfolio. When looking at this, you have to look at the marketplace and get some idea where you think the markets are going.