Three small-cap ETFs for Canadian investors

Article Excerpt

Smaller firms can sometimes generate higher returns than their larger counterparts, but they are often riskier, less liquid, and may underperform for long periods. One way to offset some of the risk is to focus on ETFs that hold top-quality small-capitalization companies. Here’s a look at three ETFs that meet that criteria. Meantime, please see the Supplement on page 30 for more on small caps, in general. ISHARES U.S. SMALL CAP INDEX ETF $37.61 (Toronto symbol XSU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $550.9 million) invests all its assets in the U.S.-listed iShares Russell 2000 ETF (New York symbol IWM). The foreign currency exposure is hedged to the Canadian dollar. The fund tracks the Russell 2000 Index. That index is a small-cap U.S. stock market index composed of 2,000 smaller companies. The main segment allocations are Technology (16%), Health Care (16%), Financial Services (15%), Industrials (15%), Consumer Discretionary (10%), Real estate (7%), and Energy (7%). The fund indirectly holds 1,967 companies, with 3% of the assets allocated…