Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Find Low-Volatility Income in Asia Pacific

The O’Shares FTSE Asia Pacific Quality Dividend ETF (OASI) is a refined yet simple way for investors to play the dividend market in the Asia-Pacific region.

Similar to the other O’Shares dividend funds, OASI chooses its holdings from the FTSE Developed Asia Pac Index, which is composed of roughly 800 of the largest publicly listed companies within the developed Asia-Pacific region. OASI screens the candidates and selects those that meet certain market capitalization, liquidity, high quality, low volatility and dividend yield thresholds.

Since its inception date of August 19, 2015, OASI has been part of O’Shares ETF Investments, the vision of Chairman Kevin O’Leary, “a long-term investor who wants less risk.” O’Leary has also noted that OASI is a key component of his “diversified equity portfolio invested in the highest quality, large-cap and small-cap companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia.”

Interested investors can check out the O’Shares dividend ETF Talks for the United States and Europe, both published in earlier weeks, here: O’Shares FTSE Europe Quality Dividend ETF (OEUR) and O’Shares FTSE U.S. Quality Dividend ETF (OUSA).

Though OASI is a diversified fund, its holdings are skewed towards the Asia-Pacific region’s leading economic powers, who pay the highest-quality dividends. As of this writing, OASI is 44.05% invested in Japan, 26.25% in Australia, 14.08% in Hong Kong, 8% in South Korea and 5% in Singapore.

Year to date, OASI has experienced high levels of volatility and is down 1.31%. According to Seeking Alpha, part of the reason for the downturn in the Asian markets stems from China’s trade worries, which dragged the Asian markets to nine-month lows in early July. Investors who are considering plays on the Asian markets should do their due diligence.

The fund’s one-year return is 5.46%. OASI pays a distribution yield of 5.03% and charges an expense ratio of 0.48%.

I am happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to send me an email. You just may see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.

Jim Woods

Jim Woods is a 20-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor. Jim is the editor of Intelligence Report, Investing Edge, the Bullseye Stock Trader, and The Deep Woods (formerly the Weekly ETF Report). His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others. Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology. The independent firm TipRanks rates Jim the No. 3 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 6,000). TipRanks calculates that, since 2012, he's made 361 successful recommendations out of 499 total, earning a success rate of 72% and a +15.3% average return per recommendation. He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding. Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.