TSE:ZWU

BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF (ZWU.TO)

11.67
+0.06 (0.47%)
as of Aug 14, 2026, 7:59:30 pm Market Open.
403 watching
0
Investor Insights
star iconAug 15, 2026, 12:00 am

This summary was created by AI, based on 18 opinions in the last 12 months.

The BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF (ZWU) has received a variety of perspectives from experts, with a focus on its appeal for income-seeking investors due to its attractive yield, which ranges from 6.9% to 7%. While the covered call strategy limits upside potential, many believe that utilities provide essential stability in an uncertain market, especially as demand for energy increases, particularly in the U.S. Furthermore, the ETF is diversified across utilities, telecommunications, and pipelines, offering a tax-efficient investment approach. Despite concerns about rising interest rates impacting utility stocks, the consensus among experts is that ZWU remains a viable option amidst the current market landscape, making it suitable for a portion of a diversified portfolio.

consensus icon
Consensus
Positive
valuation icon
Valuation
Fair Value
review icon
Similar
CNCC
PAST TOP PICK

(A Top Pick Aug 15/12. Up 1.63%.)

TOP PICK

This is Covered Calls on utility stocks and pays a monthly income anywhere between $0.085 and $0.09 a share and that is coming to you as capital gains and/or dividends. Yield is about 7% annually.

COMMENT
Are covered Call ETF’s any good, will they fluctuate or be fairly steady? For many people in reasonable doses makes some sense. Doesn’t love or hate covered call ETF’s. The income that you get from covered calls is regular taxable income and taxable at your top marginal rate. If there’s a big run up, you forgo some of that gain.
BUY
Likes this as they only write options on a portion of the portfolio. Premium on top of the dividend is typically a high dividend paying stock. This combination gives you about a 7.5%-8% return.
DON'T BUY
Covered Calls seems to be the flavour of the day. There are Covered Calls on any index you want because that is what everybody wants these days. In reality, Covered Calls work extremely well in markets that are trendless. Doesn’t believe these Covered Calls will be able to maintain their dividend. See's volatile decreasing in the market. He would recommend a basket of dividend paying stocks such as iShares International Fundamental ETF (CIE-T) and iShares BRIC ETF (CBQ-T).
COMMENT
Markets for the past 75 days or so have been moving sideways. If you don't believe there is a great deal of direction going forward, utilities are good way of a) minimizing volatility and b) when you lay a covered call strategy on top of that, you minimize volatility even further. This is one of the most conservative ETF's you can get.
BUY
Covered Call Utilities ETF. Likes this one. What they do is right Calls against individual stocks, not against the index. He uses it for some of his smaller accounts where he can't adequately diversify among 3 or 4 different covered individual bank stocks. You have to realize that if the yield is 8%, that is not what you are going to get.
DON'T BUY
Covered Call Utilities ETF. Covered Call strategy is very popular these days but is getting crowded. Basically it says that if the market trades sideways and with all the volatility in the market, can you not make money off that volatility. To do this they go long the stock but write covered calls against it. You underperform if the market goes really down or goes really up. Over the next 2-3 years we should see a better equity market.
Showing 256 to 263 of 263 entries