Is PFF a buy? - Seeking Alpha

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HEADLINES:

To The Continued Success Of The Actively Managed ETF
Michael Fabian • Tue, May 14 • 1 Comment
Preferred ETFs Are Pushing The Limits
David Fabian • Tue, May 14 • 4 Comments
High Yield, Preferreds Soar
Bespoke Investment Group • Thu, May 9 • 3 Comments
Why Corporate Bond ETFs And Preferred ETFs Are Hitting New 52-Week Highs
Gary Gordon • Wed, Apr 17
Dividend ETFs Make Swift Train Tracks
David Fabian • Tue, Apr 16 • 5 Comments
Record Market Performance Drives Record ETP Inflows, Assets Under Management In Q1
Deborah Fuhr • Mon, Apr 15 • 1 Comment
How Preferred ETFs Can Juice Your Income Portfolio
David Fabian • Tue, Apr 9 • 16 Comments
Reduce Risk With This High-Beta ETF Hedge
David Cretcher • Mon, Apr 8
Strategies For A Rising Rate Environment: High Yield Equities
Robert Wagner • Thu, Apr 4 • 3 Comments
Selling A Financial Position To Buy A Financial Position
Regarded Solutions • Wed, Apr 3 • 42 Comments
Team Alpha Portfolio Update: Doing Nothing Also Works
Regarded Solutions • Fri, Mar 29 • 58 Comments
Preferred Stock ETFs Generate Robust Yields
Tom Lydon • Wed, Mar 27 • 4 Comments
Massaging Your Dividend Equity Buy List
Michael Fabian • Wed, Mar 27 • 30 Comments
Danger: Unexploded Bomb In Your Preferred Stock Portfolio
Eric Parnell • Wed, Mar 27 • 149 Comments
With Treasuries, It's Not About The Interest Rate
Tim Ayles • Tue, Mar 26 • 38 Comments
Team Alpha And The Foundations For Financial Freedom
Regarded Solutions • Sat, Mar 23 • 132 Comments
Fidelity Increases Commission-Free ETF Count to 66
Ron Rowland • Mon, Mar 18 • 2 Comments
Preferred Stock ETFs: An Alternative Source Of Yield
Tom Lydon • Wed, Mar 13 • 3 Comments
5 ETFs For Retirement Income For Less Active Investors
Regarded Solutions • Wed, Mar 13 • 54 Comments
Allocating Within The All-Weather 4 ETF Portfolio
David Cretcher • Mon, Mar 11 • 10 Comments

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How Preferred ETFs Can Juice Your Income Portfolio
David Fabian • Tue, Apr 9 • 16 Comments
Combining The Financial Sector With A Great Dividend For Any Portfolio
Regarded Solutions • Mon, Dec 10, 2012 • 53 Comments
Looking Under The Hood Of The Top 5 Preferred ETFs
David Fry • Tue, May 1, 2012 • 9 Comments
Preferreds More Preferred Than Treasuries
Michael A. Gayed • Wed, Mar 14, 2012 • 6 Comments
Widening Discounts In Preferred Stocks: An Opportunity To Buy PFF?
Kevin Feldman • Wed, Aug 24, 2011 • 9 Comments
Digging Deeper Into iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index
Excel Jockeys • Wed, Aug 3, 2011 • 12 Comments
Portfolio Considerations: High-Yielding Preferred Stock ETFs
Morningstar • Tue, Jul 26, 2011 • 14 Comments
Preferred Stocks Making a Comeback? One ETF to Consider
Michael A. Gayed • Tue, Mar 1, 2011 • 24 Comments
Dividend ETFs Aren't Created Equal: Dividend Appreciation vs. Dividend Hogs
MyPlanIQ • Fri, Jan 21, 2011 • 1 Comment
Preferred Stocks for Income: Buy Individual Issues or ETFs?
Roger Nusbaum • Fri, Sep 10, 2010 • 15 Comments
Hennessy Affirms Negative Outlook
Lawrence Carrel • Tue, Aug 10, 2010 • 3 Comments
PFF vs. PGX: Preferred Stock ETFs Go Head-to-Head
Michael Johnston • Wed, Apr 21, 2010 • 12 Comments
Preferred Stock ETFs Continue Their Winning Ways
Michael Johnston • Wed, Mar 24, 2010 • 12 Comments
Third Preferred Stock ETF Hits the Market
IndexUniverse • Thu, Sep 17, 2009 • 3 Comments
Preferreds Up 100%, On Verge of Breakout
Bespoke Investment Group • Thu, May 28, 2009 • 2 Comments
The Selloff in Preferred Stocks May Be Overdone
Herb Morgan • Fri, Mar 6, 2009 • 5 Comments
Are Preferreds Staging a Comeback?
Bespoke Investment Group • Fri, Dec 26, 2008 • 7 Comments
Playing It Safe with Corporate Bonds for Now
Matthew Rafat • Tue, Oct 28, 2008
Shot on Goal: An ETF Warren Buffett and Wayne Gretzky Might Like
Gary Gordon • Mon, Oct 20, 2008 • 3 Comments
Barclays' New Preferred ETF Hits the Market
Tom Lydon • Tue, Apr 3, 2007

To The Continued Success Of The Actively Managed ETF
Michael Fabian • Tue, May 14 • 1 Comment
Preferred ETFs Are Pushing The Limits
David Fabian • Tue, May 14 • 4 Comments
High Yield, Preferreds Soar
Bespoke Investment Group • Thu, May 9 • 3 Comments
Why Corporate Bond ETFs And Preferred ETFs Are Hitting New 52-Week Highs
Gary Gordon • Wed, Apr 17
Dividend ETFs Make Swift Train Tracks
David Fabian • Tue, Apr 16 • 5 Comments
Record Market Performance Drives Record ETP Inflows, Assets Under Management In Q1
Deborah Fuhr • Mon, Apr 15 • 1 Comment
Reduce Risk With This High-Beta ETF Hedge
David Cretcher • Mon, Apr 8
Strategies For A Rising Rate Environment: High Yield Equities
Robert Wagner • Thu, Apr 4 • 3 Comments
Selling A Financial Position To Buy A Financial Position
Regarded Solutions • Wed, Apr 3 • 42 Comments
Team Alpha Portfolio Update: Doing Nothing Also Works
Regarded Solutions • Fri, Mar 29 • 58 Comments
Preferred Stock ETFs Generate Robust Yields
Tom Lydon • Wed, Mar 27 • 4 Comments
Massaging Your Dividend Equity Buy List
Michael Fabian • Wed, Mar 27 • 30 Comments
Danger: Unexploded Bomb In Your Preferred Stock Portfolio
Eric Parnell • Wed, Mar 27 • 149 Comments
With Treasuries, It's Not About The Interest Rate
Tim Ayles • Tue, Mar 26 • 38 Comments
Team Alpha And The Foundations For Financial Freedom
Regarded Solutions • Sat, Mar 23 • 132 Comments
Fidelity Increases Commission-Free ETF Count to 66
Ron Rowland • Mon, Mar 18 • 2 Comments
Preferred Stock ETFs: An Alternative Source Of Yield
Tom Lydon • Wed, Mar 13 • 3 Comments
5 ETFs For Retirement Income For Less Active Investors
Regarded Solutions • Wed, Mar 13 • 54 Comments
Allocating Within The All-Weather 4 ETF Portfolio
David Cretcher • Mon, Mar 11 • 10 Comments
Will Your Retirement Savings Last?
Regarded Solutions • Sat, Mar 9 • 112 Comments

There are no Transcripts on PFF.

What Will Get Investors Back Into Stocks?

at CNBC.com (Sep 7, 2012)
Looking for yield in all the other places

at MarketWatch.com (Sep 4, 2012)
Hate the Low Volatility? Bet Against It!

at CNBC.com (Aug 15, 2012)
Don't ignore diversified financial ETFs

at MarketWatch.com (Jul 19, 2012)
Dividends Are Hot!

at CNBC.com (May 16, 2012)
ETF Investing: Be selective with preferred-stock ETFs and funds

at MarketWatch.com (May 7, 2012)
Steve Cortes: Don't Buy Into Housing Rally Yet

at CNBC.com (Mar 8, 2012)
Chuck Jaffe: Time to buy into bank stocks? Not necessarily

at MarketWatch.com (Oct 30, 2011)
What if the gold market breaks down?

at MarketWatch.com (May 2, 2011)
ETF Investing: ETFs to expand in 2011; assets top $1 trillion

at MarketWatch.com (Jan 12, 2011)
Pimco's Buying Preferred Stock; Should Investors Be, Too?

at CNBC.com (Dec 17, 2010)

PFF vs. ETF Alternatives

PFF Description

The iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index.
See more details on sponsor's website

Country: United States

Key Info

In Your Portfolio: A Guide to Dividend ETFs
Asset Class Performance: Dividends

All
| Earnings
| Dividends
| M&A
| On the move

Saturday, May 4, 8:43 AM Do you know what's in your preferred stock ETF? The PowerShares Financial Preferred Portfolio (PGF) has nearly all holdings in perpetual preferreds - fixed yields with no maturity dates, thus particularly vulnerable to rising rates. The iShares Preferred Stock ETF (PFF) has just 45%. Mutual preferred funds, though more expensive, might offer even better protection against higher rates - they're able to participate in the OTC market where much of the action in floating-rate preferreds takes place. 4 Comments
Wednesday, May 1, 2:53 PM iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF (PFF) announces monthly distribution of $0.1728. For shareholders of record May 03. Payable May 07. Ex-div date May 01. Comment! [Dividends]
Monday, April 1, 4:56 PM iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF (PFF) announces monthly distribution of $0.175. For shareholders of record Apr. 03. Payable Apr. 05. Ex-div date Apr. 01. 1 Comment [Dividends]
Friday, March 1, 9:55 AM iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF (PFF) announces monthly distribution of $0.100. 30-day SEC yield of 5.54%. For shareholders of record Mar. 05. Payable Mar. 07. Ex-div date Mar. 01. 14 Comments [Dividends]
Wednesday, February 13, 7:14 PM First Trust's new actively managed Preferred Securities and Income ETF FPE began trading Tuesday. FPE tries to generate income through holding preferred securities and income-producing debt securities, such as corporate bonds, high-yield securities and convertibles. This gives investors yield-generating options as an alternative route to the low interest rates in Treasury bonds. FPE comes with a high expense ratio of 0.85% compared to PFF (0.48%), PFXF (0.40%), SPFF (0.58%), PSK (0.45%), PGX (0.50%) and IPFF (0.55%). (PR) 1 Comment
Monday, January 28, 11:00 AM Bank debt is back with lenders' paper set to overtake that of industrial companies as the safest in the U.S. corporate bond market for the first time since the financial crisis. Investors are currently demanding just 16 bps more premium over a benchmark from banks, compared to 365 bps 4 years ago. Comment! [Financials]
Sunday, January 6, 8:56 AM While the preferred stock (PFF) led the income pack in 2012 with a total return of 18.2%, the current risk-reward profile isn't great, says Barclays' Shobhit Gupta, with the upside capped by the issuer call option, and significant downside if rates rise. One overlooked class for investors: Convertible Bonds (CWB). Barron's overview of the income sector. 26 Comments [Quick Ideas]
Tuesday, January 1, 10:52 AM Small-cap dividend ETFs (DES, DLS, DFE, DGS, DFJ, EES) led the pack in 2012 performance domestically and globally, followed by mid-caps (DON, DIM, EZM) and large-caps (DLN, DOL, EPS). Among strategy-based ETFs, it was preferreds (PGF, PFF) and buybacks (PKW) that outperformed. See here for full dividend ETF performance data. 2 Comments [Dividends, Quick Ideas]
Friday, November 16, 2012, 9:48 AM Another blow against the income-seekers, Capital One (COF) announces it will redeem $3.65B of trust preferred securities. The high-cost paper is in the process of being called by most financials as it will no longer by allowed to count towards capital buffers. (PR) 3 Comments [Financials]
Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 4:26 PM Where'a an income investor to turn? Citigroup (C) calls away another series of trust preferred securities, these the 7.875% Enhanced TRUPS. Banks have been busily redeeming this high-cost paper as new rules no longer allow it to be counted in capital calculations. (PR) 1 Comment [Financials]
Monday, October 22, 2012, 1:07 PM "The fundamentals haven't changed, but the prices certainly have," says fund manager Mark Egan, explaining why he recently sold Bank of America (BAC) bonds yielding 3% that he had picked up last year when they were yielding 8%. He notes the great balance sheets of the financials mean good times for bondholders, but not so much for the owners of the common stock.
6 Comments [Financials, Quick Ideas]
Friday, October 12, 2012, 3:18 PM Don't say you weren't warned. Seventy-five percent of the preferred market is trading above par, according to BAML, and nearly the entire market is callable. 3 Comments [Financials]
Tuesday, October 9, 2012, 11:31 AM Preferred stock investors aren't happy about banks buying back their trust preferred shares before the call date and often at face value (despite them trading at premiums), but new capital rules - "a capital treatment event" - allow the lenders to do so. Bank of America (BAC), says JPMorgan's Vivek Juneja, is likely to see the biggest benefit to its bottom line. 11 Comments [Financials]
Thursday, September 27, 2012, 3:18 PM Despite preferred stocks having had a great run relative to Treasurys this year, Michael Gayed sees plenty more upside. The ratio of the preferred share ETF (PFF) to the long Treasury ETF (TLT) has moved up, but has a long way to go before getting near the levels of just 18 months ago. Comment! [Quick Ideas]
Monday, August 20, 2012, 3:49 PM The hunt for yield: A JPMorgan (JPM) plan to issue $500M in preferred stock is scrapped in favor of a $1.1B sale. The shares were priced to yield 5.5% vs. an expected range of 5.5-5.625%. The bank wrote last week (via Michael Sedacca) it was seeing evidence the search for yield was spilling over into dividend/preferred stocks. Indeed. 5 Comments [Financials]
Tuesday, August 14, 2012, 11:51 AM Yield-hungry investors grasping for supply get some, Capital One (COF) raising the amount of a preferred stock sale to $875M from $250M originally planned. The coupon is 6% and the issue is callable in 5 years. Comment! [Financials]

David Fabian
$PFF hitting new highs today. Preferred stocks have really held up well despite the market sell off http://seekingalpha.com/a/siap
Apr 16, 12:31 PM
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ltfinger
Returning Upgrades (4/11/13): $MGA, $MIC, $MMC, $NEOG, $NUVA, $PAYX, $PBJ, $PCL, $PCRX, $PFF, $PM, $POWR, $PRGO, $PRXL, $QGEN, $RDEN
Apr 12, 10:33 AM
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RogL
Anyone know why the $PFF dividend, (0.10/share), paid in March 2013 is historically less?
Mar 12, 6:05 AM
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ChuckJ
Anyone know when the $PFF xdiv date is? ChuckJ
11/30/12
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BlackRook: 12/3/12
12/1/12
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AlphaDubai: $PFF has monthly dividends
12/6/12
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The_American
MUX GLDX AUY ABX NEM AUY HL increase SDIV PFF EEM WFT WY DIA QQQ SPY : VXX TVIX UVXY Trade NUGT on pull PTM SIVR PSLV PHYS GLD DOW GGGG GDXJ
8/21/12
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John Cofran
out of $PFF completely.... freeing up capital for the next leg down
7/23/12
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poclerk: Me too! Out of PFF but into PFXF. NO Banks!
7/27/12
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Kirk Lindstrom
Article about PFF: What is the Best ETF for Dividends? http://bit.ly/IYYJzk $SDY $PFF $SPY $VTI $VTO
5/16/12
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Cautious_Bob
what is behind this weeks big rise in the PFF share price? end of the year rebalancing?
1/5/12
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Defenster: I think it the buy backs of prfd of some banks at par. Wells bought back a bunch and the financials are improving.
1/19/12
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Michael A. Gayed
Fall Melt-Up of 2011/Risk-On on IWM, IVV, SPY, EEM, EFA, JNK, PFF, XLF http://seekingalpha.com/a/6cwi
10/4/11
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diepwjulius
I'd only play BAC through PFF or FAZ.
8/30/11
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LATEST REPLIES

ChuckJ
Anyone know when the $PFF xdiv date is? ChuckJ
11/30/12
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BlackRook: 12/3/12
12/1/12
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AlphaDubai: $PFF has monthly dividends
12/6/12
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John Cofran
out of $PFF completely.... freeing up capital for the next leg down
7/23/12
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poclerk: Me too! Out of PFF but into PFXF. NO Banks!
7/27/12
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Cautious_Bob
what is behind this weeks big rise in the PFF share price? end of the year rebalancing?
1/5/12
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Defenster: I think it the buy backs of prfd of some banks at par. Wells bought back a bunch and the financials are improving.
1/19/12
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PFF iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF

PFF

iShares S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index ETF