Larry Berman CFA, CMT, CTA Covered Call US Banks ETF ZWK-T COMMENT May 26, 2025

Would wait to buy on weakness. Economic hard landing in the horizon. Wait for impact of interest rates to be felt. 

Yield gets up to about 10% with the covered call overlay. Likes US banks, cheap relative to 5-10 year history. If economy continues to recover, banks should be there. Last 3 months, this has returned 17.5%. 

Are you looking for income, or do you just want exposure to US banks? Makes sense if you need the income. He'd argue that you'll get a better total return owning the underlying shares, or an ETF of US banks, instead of using the covered call strategy.

Likes covered call ETFs on banks and dividend payers, not tech. He prefers BMO ETFs, because they run the covered call on 50-60% of the stocks, so you still get the upside on the balance. ZWK pays around 10% dividends, but remember you don't enjoy the tax credit in Canada on these American banks

Bought this to enhance gains, but has really enhance losses. A stinker. The Silicon Valley bank collapsed hit the entire US banking sector, but this sector is a core holding. The ZWK yield remains good. He's averaged down on this instead of dumping it. Disappointed, though.

Good yield with covered call strategy. Currency exposure a concern, but likes Canadian banking sector. Expecting strong earnings going forward. Housing pressure with renewing mortgages a concern, but overall a good product for long term investors. 

Despite being better diversified, US banking space can be more volatile than Canada's. Because of covered calls, won't achieve as much capital growth as from ZBK or ZUB. As well, consider some of the active options as offered, for example, from Hamilton.

ZWK is one to look at; for a hedged version, look on the BMO website. But at this point, he'd rather have broader exposure than switching from global to US. Look at ZPAY.

These are covered call ETFs for banks, US (ZWK) or Canadian (ZWB). If tariffs and such are going to be negative for the economy, typically banks would underperform broader markets. He'd be cautious. Don't go out and sell right now, but be wary.

You'll probably get a better chance to buy in the next couple of months, when banks get a bit cheaper. In the meantime, ZST is a good place to park your cash.

This is an accounting item. There are 2 types of ROC, 1 good and 1 bad. The bad one is where the ETF provider is goosing up the return to be seen to be giving you more of a yield, but they end of giving you some of your own money back. That's not good. BMO doesn't do that.

To find out which one it is, you can call the ETF provider. Here's another way. Look at the underlying holdings. For example, assume they pay a dividend of 4%, there's an MER for the fund, and the option overlay generates a return of 2-3% a year. If you're being paid 6-7%, it's all good and you're getting it all. But if you're being paid 6%, but none of the underlying holdings pay 6% and there's no covered call overlay, then you're getting some of your own money back