Some New ETFs Could be Stars in 2013

Market Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat Research ETF (NYSE: MOAT) Upon debut, critics could have said that MOAT was too esoteric and too much of a niche play. Well, touting Warren Buffett’s love of wide moat business has proven to be a smart marketing tool because MOAT has accumulated almost $99 million in AUM. Home to just 21 stocks, MOAT has jumped 6.6 percent since coming to market. An interesting footnote is that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is currently MOAT’s largest holding with a weight of almost 6.7 percent.

First Trust Exchange Traded Fd VI (NASDAQ:TDIV) The First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund represents a direct play on an important theme for dividend investors: The tech sector’s rise to dividend prominence. While yields are still not impressive across the board, tech is the largest dividend-paying sector in the U.S. in dollar terms.

Add to that, with the massive cash hoards held by the likes of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) and other familiar tech names, the sector is expected to provided dividend growth in the coming years. That is assuming the fiscal cliff is avoided and that is the one of the hurdles TDIV faces in the near term.

A unique aspect to TDIV is that it is not a straight tech play. Rather, the volatility that sector is often known for is tempered somewhat because the ETF is sure to include a 20 percent weight to telecommunications names at each rebalancing. That means Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and related issues are TDIV holdings.

TDIV has outperformed the Nasdaq 100 since its August debut, but both have traded lower. Still, TDIV deserves credit for being a play on an important, that being dividend growth potential, and for garnering $46.4 million in AUM to this point.

This article was originally written by The ETF Professor, and posted on Benzinga.