A look under the hood reveals why FXO has risen nearly 33 percent, while KBWD rose less than half of that.
Major League Baseball. German engineered cars. Exchange-trade funds. Within each realm, competition exists. And while rivalry makes watching the Red Sox win its third World Series in a decade a wonderful—or terrible—experience, depending on your coast of domicile, losing value in your portfolio against a comparable ETF is no one's favorite sport.
Within almost every segment of the ETF universe dwell superstars, underdogs and dunces.
When it comes to U.S. financials, in which 10 ETFs currently reside, some fairly wide year-to-date performance spreads have been seen, in spite of no disparaging events blighting the name of the segment.
| Ticker | Fund | Total Return (%) |
| FXO | First Trust Financials AlphaDEX | 32.84 |
| KWW | RevenuevShares Financials | 32.30 |
| RYF | Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Financial | 31.24 |
| PFI | PowerShares Dynamic Financial | 28.86 |
| XLF | Financial Select SPDR | 27.23 |
| IYF | iShares U.S. Financials | 26.58 |
| PSCF | PowerShares S&P SmallCap Financials | 26.03 |
| VFH | Vanguard Financials | 25.98 |
| KBWD | PowerShares CBW High Dividend Yield Financial | 15.67 |
| FNCL | Fidelity MSCI Financials | No Data |
It's important to note that the Fidelity MSCI Financials fund (FNCL) is technically the cheapest in the segment at 12 basis points, but this fund only launched on Oct. 23; therefore, it doesn't yet have comparable AUM or performance to throw it into the ring.
That being said, U.S. financial ETFs have rallied this year, with the First Trust Financials AlphaDEX fund (FXO | B-80) leading the funds' stride with a 32.84 percent spike since the close of 2012.
That's nothing to scoff at—unless you were the investor who opted out of FXO for the PowerShares KBW High Dividend Yield Financial ETF (KBWD | C-25), which has gained less than half of FXO's performance this year, rising 15.67 percent.
Why The Disparity?
First of all, although these funds land in the U.S. financials segment and are considered competitors, KBWD's basket holds just 39 of the securities in the segment, while FXO carries 168.
Within the 39 securities of KBWD's basket, there are a few key players missing, like Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan, which tilts the fund toward smaller-cap securities. It also gives it a hefty overweight to residential and commercial REITs, with 37 percent allocated to that sector.
FXO is also allocated no more than 1.43 percent to any single security, while each of KBWD's top 10 holdings scoop up more than 3 percent of the fund's portfolio.
