3 Covered Call ETFs to Pump Up Your Income - ETF News And Commentary
December 10 2013 - 2:00PM
Zacks
Though the U.S. markets are climbing once again and are hovering
around their multi-year highs buoyed by Fed easing policies and
improving economy conditions, volatility seems to be crawling back
into the market.
The economic activity in the U.S. is picking up rapidly with
stronger-than-expected manufacturing growth and construction
spending. The housing market is showing strong recovery with higher
home prices, rising demand, more home-building permits and new
construction plans while the job market is also healing faster than
expected.
Apart from these factors, global economic conditions are also on
the rise with improving fundamentals in Europe and China (read: 3
Top Performing ETFs of November).
Investors are concerned that strings of upbeat economic data would
bring the tapering sooner rather than later. Further, consumer
sentiment continued to slide in November after falling in October,
giving mixed signals on the health of the economy.
This, along with ultra-low rates, led to investor worry about their
income safety and consequently their choice of a less volatile
portfolio that gives higher returns. One such portfolio that seems
ideal for the current market environment is the ‘Covered Call
Strategy’. This is because the strategy provides downside
protection, while at the same time offers some capital gains if the
underlying asset rallies.
Covered Call Strategy Explained
A covered call (often called buy-write) is an option strategy
whereby an investor holds a long position in an asset and sells (or
writes) call options on that same asset. With this process, the
strategy aims to generate additional monthly income from the call
option (premiums collected).
Let’s see how it works. If the product stays flat or declines
slightly, investors keep the premium and their stock. However, if
prices rise, investors only receive the premium and the stocks are
sold at the price that was agreed upon in the covered call.
As such, the products would probably underperform in the bull
markets, as the covered call strategy eats away at the gain
potential especially with a short time horizon (see: all the
Long-Short ETFs here).
How to Play?
For investors seeking to make a play on the broad U.S. equity
indices using this strategy could consider the following three
ETFs:
PowerShares S&P 500 BuyWrite Portfolio ETF
(PBP)
This fund tracks the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index before fees
and expenses. The index measures the theoretical performance of a
covered call strategy on the S&P 500 index by writing at or
out-of-the-money call options, listed on the Chicago Board Options
Exchange (CBOE), which is due for expiry the following month (read:
Time to Hedge Your Risk with These 3 ETFs).
The fund has amassed $196.1 million in AUM and trades in average
daily volume of nearly 67,000 shares a day. Though the product is a
bit pricey when compared to other choices in the market, charging
75 bps in annual fees, this could be making up in terms of yield.
The ETF has an annual yield of 5.13% mainly due to the premium
received by writing the call options.
Horizons S&P 500 Covered Call ETF
(HSPX)
This ETF seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 Stock
Covered Call Index, before fees and expenses. The product will hold
a long position in the stocks of the S&P 500 Index while at the
same time, will short (write) call options on option-eligible
stocks in the S&P 500 Index.
This fund debuted in June this year and has accumulated $26.4
million in total asset base so far. Volume is light as it exchanges
nearly 12,000 shares in hand on an average daily basis. The ETF has
an expense ratio of 0.65% and yields 0.77% in annual dividends,
though it doesn’t yet have a good sample size for payouts (read:
Horizons Launches Covered Call ETF (HSPX)).
Barclays iPath S&P 500 BuyWrite Index ETN
(BWV)
This is an ETN option and tracks the similar index as that of PBP.
Unlike PBP, the ETN carries credit risk from the issuing
institution – Barclays. The note is less popular and less liquid as
depicted by AUM of $9.6 million and average volume of under 3,000
shares. The ETN charges 0.75% in fees and expenses.
Bottom Line
These products are appropriate for investors seeking high levels of
current income and a hedged exposure to the large cap U.S equities.
It is worth noting that the funds will lag significantly during
boom times, but will be an interesting choice in flat or declining
markets, especially for investors seeking extra income in the
current low rate environment.
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IPATH-CBOE SP5 (BWV): ETF Research Reports
HORZN-SP5 CV CL (HSPX): ETF Research Reports
PWRSH-SP5 BUYWR (PBP): ETF Research Reports
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