IDOG: Cyclical Strength Pays International Dividends

• The ALPS International Sector Dividend Dogs ETF (IDOG) gained 6.14% in July as developed international equities extended their run, with the STOXX Europe 600 touching a record high on the month's final trading day. Leadership inside the Fund was decisively cyclical—Energy returned 19.3%, the most of any IDOG sector, followed by Financials (+8.4%), Materials (+7.1%), and Industrials (+6.9%)—as the energy shock repriced producers' cash flows, sticky inflation kept rates and bank profitability elevated, and the technology buildout pulled on the old economy from copper to grid capacity. The dog days of summer brought the heat everywhere but tech within IDOG: Information Technology was the Fund’s only sector decliner (-1.7%) as July belonged to the cyclicals, not the artificial intelligence (AI) trade, and the Fund's sector-balanced design held full-sized stakes in the leaders.
  
  
• IDOG’s international energy exposure was the best sector-level performer for the fund during July, led by Norwegian energy producer, Equinor ASA (EQNR NO, 2.21% weight*), surging 28.54% after reporting second-quarter results that firmly captured energy production repricing in full: Adjusted operating income of $11.5 billion, net income of $4.8 billion versus $1.3 billion a year earlier on European gas realizations up 32%, and a 2026 buyback program expanded to $3 billion. Notably, all five of IDOG’s equally-weighted Energy holdings gained at least 15% as crude rebounded late in the month on concerns of an extended US-Iran War and supply disruption. Also moving higher in July’s cyclical upswing for IDOG was Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel Corp. (5401 JP, 2.36% weight*), gaining nearly 24% after reporting June-quarter revenue up 40% and raising its full-year underlying profit outlook by ¥200 billion to more than ¥700 billion, with newly acquired US Steel now expected to be the company’s primary earnings driver.
  
  
• The advance in July was broader than commodity-correlation across IDOG’s deep-value and high-yielding international developed exposure. Wireless communication provider, Vodafone Group Plc (VOD LN, 2.03% weight*), rose 19.96% after the company’s July trading update showed first-quarter service revenue up 5.2%—ahead of estimates—on a return to growth in Germany, Vodafone’s largest market. Adding to portfolio gains, IDOG industrials name, Daimler Truck Holding AG (DTG GR, 2.32% weight*), returned over 16.7% after releasing positive Q2 delivery figures highlighting North American truck volumes rebounding more than 40% from the first quarter’s tariff-depressed levels. France-based technology service provider, Capgemini SE (CAP FP, 2.10% weight*), also gained over 17% in July after raising its full-year growth outlook to reflect AI-driven enterprise demand—a sign that AI monetization is reaching well beyond the growth complex and into the value-priced, dividend-paying parts of the market that IDOG owns.
  
  

“The global outlook is being shaped by two powerful forces pulling in opposite directions: the lingering effects of the energy shock from the war in the Middle East and a technology-driven investment boom.”

– Petya Koeva Brooks, Deputy Director, Research Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF), July 8, 2026

Sticky Inflation and Positive Rates Put Value Back to Work

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) described July's backdrop as a global economy caught between war and technology—and for international dividend strategies like IDOG, the inflation half of that forecast was the key to the outlook. With the IMF lifting its 2026 global inflation projection to 4.7% and the European Central Bank (ECB) holding rates at 2.25% after June's first hike since 2023, policy has settled well above the negative-rate levels of the past decade—an environment where the market pays for cash flow today over growth promised for later—dividends carry a larger share of total return, and the banks, energy producers and industrials that anchor international value have been earning their way back into leadership. That is the environment IDOG was built for: Full-sized exposure to the value sectors doing the earnings lifting, a meaningful yield for investors to collect while it lasts, and a claim on every other part of the market if leadership turns.
  
  
• IDOG is designed for investors who want to capture broad, diversified sector exposure across international developed equity markets without making a single-sector call. The Fund is unique in its equal-sector weighted approach (excluding real estate), selecting the five highest-yielding names in each sector. By prioritizing the sector weights first and applying the yield screen within each sector, the outcome is a “Dogs of the Dow” strategy applied to international developed stocks that allows IDOG to seek income across the market without overconcentrating in the sectors that happen to offer the highest yields.

• As of July 31, the MSCI EAFE Index traded at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15.80x vs. 20.46x for the MSCI USA Index—a ~23% discount—while yielding 3.13% vs. 0.99% for the MSCI USA Index. While international stocks broadly trade at a discount to US stocks, IDOG provides even cheaper diversified exposure to the true value opportunities across international markets: As of July 31, IDOG trades at a forward P/E of 12.21x—a 40% discount to US stocks and a 23% discount to international stocks—with a trailing twelve month yield of 4.22%, over four times the MSCI USA Index yield, reflecting its sector-by-sector selection of higher-yielding stocks.
  
  
• Why IDOG over a conventional high-yield international fund? A market-wide yield screen can crowd into the most distressed sectors. IDOG’s equally-weighted sector-first structure is built to avoid exactly that—as of July 31, the gap between its largest and smallest sector weights was just 1.91 percentage points (8.98% Information Technology weight and 10.89% Financials weight; due to intra-quarter market drift), helping spread the income opportunity across the full developed international economy.

Source: Bloomberg L.P. and SS&C ALPS Advisors, cumulative performance as of 07/31/2026 and annualized performance as of 06/30/2026

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate. Current performance may be higher or lower than the performance quoted. For current month-end performance call 1-866-759-5679 or visit www.alpsfunds.com. Performance includes reinvested distributions and capital gains.

Market Price is based on the midpoint of the bid/ask spread at 4 p.m. ET and does not represent the returns an investor would receive if shares were traded at other times.

Fund inception date: 06/27/2013

Total Operating Expenses: 0.50%

* Weight in IDOG as of 07/31/2026

Top 10 Holdings

As of 07/31/2026, subject to change

Important Disclosures & Definitions

An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other information, call 1-866-759-5679 or visit www.alpsfunds.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Shares of ETFs are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemable.

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results; current performance may be higher or lower than performance quoted.

All investments are subject to risks, including the loss of money and the possible loss of the entire principal amount invested. Additional information regarding the risks of this investment is available in the prospectus.

The Fund is subject to the additional risks associated with concentrating its investments in companies in the market sector.

Diversification does not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment losses.

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The Fund employs a “passive management”—or indexing—investment approach and seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the performance of its Underlying Index. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell or buy a security unless that security is removed from or added to the Underlying Index, respectively. 

Dogs of the Dow Theory: an investment strategy which proposes that an investor annually select for investment the ten Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks whose dividend is the highest fraction of their price.

Morningstar Developed Markets ex-North America Index: measures the performance of companies in developed markets ex-North America. It covers approximately 97% of the full market capitalization in the Developed Markets ex-North America.

S-Network International Sector Dividend Dogs Index (IDOGX): a portfolio of stocks derived from a universe of mainly large capitalization stocks domiciled in developed markets outside the Americas (the “S-Network Developed International Equity 1000 Index”). The IDOGX methodology selects the five stocks in each of the ten GICS sectors that make up the universe which offer the highest dividend yields as of the last trading day of November. The fifty stocks that are selected for inclusion in the portfolio are equally weighted.

One may not invest directly in an index.

ALPS Advisors, Inc., registered investment adviser with the SEC, is the investment adviser to the Fund. ALPS Advisors, Inc. is affiliated with ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc.

ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc. is the distributor for the Fund.

Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

DOG001569  7/31/2027