The WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap ETF (EES) made its debut on 02/23/2007, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Value category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
EES is managed by Wisdomtree, and this fund has amassed over $718.45 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Small Cap Value. EES seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Earnings Index before fees and expenses.
The WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of earnings-generating companies within the small-capitalization segment of the U.S. Stock Market.
Cost & Other Expenses
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.38% for EES, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
EES's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
EES's heaviest allocation is in the Financials sector, which is about 24.5% of the portfolio. Its Industrials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Venture Global Inc-cl A (VG) accounts for about 1.77% of total assets, followed by Crescent Energy Inc-a (CRGY) and Matson Inc (MATX).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 7.46% of EES's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added about 19.15% so far this year and it's up approximately 28.63% in the last one year (as of 07/06/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $50.48 and $68.16
EES has a beta of 1.00 and standard deviation of 20.23% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 903 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Small Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) tracks Russell 2000 Value Index and the Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund ETF Shares (VBR) tracks CRSP U.S. Small Cap Value Index. iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF has $14.37 billion in assets, Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund ETF Shares has $36.74 billion. IWN has an expense ratio of 0.24% and VBR changes 0.05%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Small Cap Value
Bottom Line
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WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap ETF (EES): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).