New Preferred ETF Offers Yield, Safety & REITs

The current low-yield, high-volatility market is making preferred stocks all-the-more attractive.

The current low-yield, high-volatility market is making preferred stocks all-the-more attractive, said Ben Fulton, CEO of Elkhorn Investments. Fulton launched the Elkhorn S&P High Quality Preferred ETF (EPRF) last month. The EPRF is based on the S&P U.S. High Quality Preferred Stock Index, which selects fixed-rate investment grade preferred issues (BBB- or higher) from U.S. listed preferred stocks and maintains an allocation of 75 percent to cumulative preferreds. 'This is a way for people to take risk off in a preferred portfolio,' said Fulton. 'There was no investment grade only preferred exposure in the ETF space so we are delighted to bring this.' In general, preferred stock is a class of equity security that pays a specified dividend that must be paid before any dividends can be paid to common stockholders, and which takes precedence over common stock in the event of the company's liquidation. Although preferred stocks represent a partial ownership interest in a company, preferred stocks generally do not carry voting rights and have economic characteristics similar to fixed-income securities.