This ETF with a yield of almost 10% faces big earnings tests this week

Published Wed, Apr 12 202310:35 AM EDT

Jesse Pound @/in/jesse-pound @jesserpound

The first wave of first-quarter earnings will put two of the biggest holdings of a red-hot ETF under the microscope. The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) , which uses stock selection to find value plays and equity-linked notes to generate additional yield, has a 12-month rolling dividend yield of more than 11% and a 30-day SEC yield of 9.59%. That eye-popping yield has made JEPI one of the most popular equity funds for investors. The fund has pulled in more than $6 billion of new investment since the start of 2023, lifting its total assets under management above $23 billion. But stock selection is still a big part of JEPI's performance, and earnings season can put that to the test. Two of the fund's top holdings, as of Tuesday, are set to report earnings this week: Progressive and UnitedHealth . Those two stocks, combined, represent more than 3% of all the assets in the fund. Progressive, JEPI's top holding, is viewed skeptically by Wall Street. Less than 50% of analysts covering the insurer have a buy rating, according to Refinitiv, even though the stock hit a new, all-time high on Tuesday. PGR 1Y mountain Shares of Progressive hit a new all-time high on Tuesday. Moreover, the Mayfield, Ohio-based Progressive only accounts for 0.25% in the SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) , but has a 1.6% weighting in JEPI. On the other hand, UnitedHealth — the largest stock in the price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average — is only a slightly larger percentage in the JEPI portfolio than it is in S & P 500 ETF. UnitedHealth is also better liked by analysts, with more than 80% carrying a buy or strong buy rating on the stock, according to Refinitiv. However, the stock has underperformed so far this year, falling about 1%. JEPI has outperformed the broader market during its rapid rise in popularity, but the results still have not been great for investors looking for large returns. While the SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust has lost more than 5% over the past year on a total return basis, JEPI is down less than 1%.