VIDEO: ETF of the Week: CGDV

On this episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi’s Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth discussed the Capital Group Dividend Value ETF (CGDV) with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life. The pair discussed several topics related to the fund to give investors a deeper understanding of the ETF.

Chuck Jaffe: One fund, on point for today. The expert to talk about it. This is the ETF of the Week!

Yes, welcome to the ETF of the Week, where we get the latest take from Todd Rosenbluth. He’s the head of research at VettaFi. And if you go to VettaFi.com, you’ll find all the tools you need to be a savvier, smarter ETF investor, and to get more details on the new, newsworthy, trending, and timely exchange-traded funds that we discuss here. 

Todd Rosenbluth, it’s great to chat with you again!

Todd Rosenbluth: It’s great to be back, Chuck.

Chuck Jaffe: Your ETF of the Week is…

Todd Rosenbluth: The Capital Group Dividend Value ETF, CGDV.

Chuck Jaffe: CGDV. This is the Capital Group Dividend Value ETF. And I have to say, Todd, regardless of anything you’re about to tell me, I think this fund does something that no other ETF of the Week has ever done in the entire history, which is now almost 14 years, which is this fund gets perfect marks from VettaFi’s competitors.

It’s a five-star fund from Morningstar and Lipper. The Lipper Leaders has five categories; it gets a five, the highest mark, in all five categories. So, this fund, by every measure, is a superstar. So, why is it the ETF of the Week now?

Todd Rosenbluth: I guess we could just end there if we wanted to, but we typically do eight to 10-minute segments! So, let me tell you a couple of things that caught my eye about CGDV. This is one of those funds that Capital Group launched four years ago when it entered the ETF marketplace. It now has $30 billion in assets.

It’s now among the largest of those actively managed ETFs, despite launching much later than many of the products. You mentioned the track record — that’s how Morningstar is giving it its five stars. Its track record has been great. We’ve seen value and value strategies creep more into the mindset for advisors and investors to start 2026; we’ve seen dividends be more relevant in 2026.

This is an actively managed strategy that combines both those characteristics, but is well-diversified. We’ll talk about the underlying holdings in a moment, I’m sure, but a strong track record from an experienced team that is well-known for active management outside of the ETF wrapper — Capital Group caught my eye, and I’m excited to be able to talk more about this ETF.

Chuck Jaffe: Yeah, this fund — I mean, its performance. It’s got only three full calendar years under its belt. But in that time, it’s number one in its peer group. And, oh by the way, it has been top 10%, top decile, in its peer group, which is large-cap value, in each of those three calendar years. So, this fund has been killing it.

What is the methodology that stands out? Because large value is a big category; it is tough to rise to the top and stay at the top.

Todd Rosenbluth: So, this is actively managed. Dividends are a part of the criteria. Valuation is, of course, a part of the criteria. That’s not all that different from what we find in many actively managed mutual funds. This is now a strategy that exists in the ETF wrapper. So, there’s some growth characteristics as well. And when I look at the holdings, I do see Microsoft and Nvidia. Those are widely held stocks outside of the value spectrum. 

But there’s Eli Lilly; there’s British American Tobacco — so a non-U.S. company in the top ten holdings; Royal Caribbean Cruises. So you’re getting some stocks outside of what you’d find typically within the S&P 500 or even just the S&P 500 Value strategy. This active characteristic — Capital Group has a team approach to sorting through and running a strategy.

So, a proven track record, a well-constructed portfolio. It stood out, and I think it’s likely to continue to gather assets as more and more people get familiar with this track record.

Chuck Jaffe: If there is something that would be disappointing as I looked at this fund, it is actually the yield. Because if you hear “dividend value,” you’re thinking, “Give me a big dividend.” But this fund is not a particularly high-yielding fund. In fact, it has a sister, which is CGDG. That’s the Dividend Growers ETF. And that has a higher SEC yield.

So how are you suggesting someone use this? Because large value is something that most people have covered.

Todd Rosenbluth: That’s true. So, the way that this fund is thinking about dividends, it focuses on companies that are paying dividends or have the potential to pay dividends. So, this is not focusing on high-yielding, dividend-paying companies. There are other ETFs for that in both the active and index space. This is not even, as you mentioned, CGDG, which is another great ETF that’s looking at the growth characteristics of those dividends.

This is [looking at]companies that pay a dividend. That’s a quality characteristic to me. I find that people are increasingly turning to active management, as we’ve talked quite a bit on this show, for active management to get their core exposure, even though this has value in its name and dividend in its name. This to me is a large-core slash large-value strategy.

So, if you’re looking for an alternative to the S&P 500, you want the benefits of some global exposure. It’s 90% U.S., roughly 10% that’s non-U.S. You’re looking for the active capabilities, and there’s some concentration — I think this portfolio is roughly 50 stocks overall, as opposed to obviously the 500-plus stocks that you’ll find within the S&P 500. This is a great way of having it within a portfolio in a low-cost manner.

And apologies of getting ahead of where you might go next. You mentioned the Lipper Leaders earlier; 33 basis points is quite competitive for a fundamental, actively managed ETF or an actively managed anything within the equity space. So, Capital Group is really using its scale to its advantage to make this a cost-effective or cost-affordable ETF.

Chuck Jaffe: You were right; I was going to go towards expense ratio. But I also wanted to go with something else. Because obviously, Todd, we know you love ETFs. You always tell us you’d rather have ETFs than traditional funds, et cetera. But Capital Group is known for their traditional funds — their funds are very popular long-term with stellar track records. Not on all of them, but on many of them.

But most people who own Capital Group do it having paid sales charges because they’ve got an advisor who’s working with them, and they paid for A-shares and the rest… Is part of the attraction of this ETF—you know, it’s an ETF? You’re not paying a sales load to get this management, which you often are if you’re looking at some of their other five-star funds.

Todd Rosenbluth: That’s right. So Capital Group offers mutual funds that are actively managed as well as ETFs that are actively managed. This being an ETF, CGDV, that caught our eye at VettaFi, you’re going to see the benefits of those active capabilities but within the ETF wrapper. So, the 33 basis points is all you’re paying. There are no sales charges with this or any other Capital Group ETF.

Chuck Jaffe: Todd, last question. I mean, obviously large value — like I said, lots of people have it in their portfolio. So how are you suggesting someone use this? Like, is this “compare to what you’ve got,” and if you’re not in a tax pickle by making a change, upgrade? 

Or is this, you know, if you’re looking for something to add or you’re trying to figure out where to put the Roth IRA money without putting too much or too many large-cap value funds? Because I know you don’t want people owning five things in the same space.

Todd Rosenbluth: You’re right. So I think many people are going to have, certainly, large-cap exposure. They might have large-cap value-oriented exposure. This is a great fund, CGDV, if you’re looking for actively managed security selection on a fundamental basis from a proven firm — low cost — that can bolt onto your portfolio. So many advisors, many investors, are turning to active ETFs.

This is a great product. A proven track record makes a lot of sense to have as part of your portfolio. But if you’re quite happy with your index-based large-cap ETFs, this might be able to fit in, or this is something to just keep your eye on.

Chuck Jaffe: It’s CGDV, Capital Group Dividend Value, the ETF of the Week from Todd Rosenbluth and VettaFi.

The ETF of the Week is a joint production of VettaFi and Money Life with Chuck Jaffe. And I am Chuck Jaffe, and you can find my show at MoneyLifeShow.com or wherever you search for your favorite podcast.

Now, if you’re searching instead for information on your favorite ETFs or maybe your next favorite ETF, check out VettaFi.com, where they’ve got a full suite of tools that’ll make you a better investor. They are on X at @Vetta_Fi, and Todd Rosenbluth, their head of research and my guest, he’s on X as well; he’s @ToddRosenbluth. 

The ETF of the Week is here for you every Thursday. Make sure you don’t miss an episode by following along on your favorite podcast app. And we’ll be back with another ETF for you to consider next week. Until then, happy investing, everybody!

Note: This article was created in part through assistance from AI tools. The content has been thoroughly reviewed and edited by the author. 

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