MarketGrader Featured Index:
MarketGrader U.S. Income 100 Index
Delivering Income Without Compromising on Fundamentals
The Problem with Traditional Dividend Indexes
Most income-focused equity indexes fall into the same trap:
- They crowd into predictable high-yield sectors like utilities or telecom.
- They favor companies with high payouts, but little growth.
- Over time, they become expensive, saturated, and momentum-driven, eroding their value as portfolio diversifiers.
These indexes often deliver steady dividends, but little in the way of capital appreciation—limiting their long-term value for investors seeking income and growth.
MarketGrader’s Solution: Income + Intelligence
The MarketGrader U.S. Income 100 Index is built for income-focused investors who want more than yield-chasing. Our GARP + Quality methodology allows us to identify:
- Healthy dividend payers with strong fundamentals
- Sustainable payouts, not dividend traps
- Upside potential from underappreciated, high-quality companies
This approach avoids the crowd and steers capital toward income-producing growth compounders—a rare combination in today’s market.
How It Works
- Screen the Entire U.S. Equity Universe
– Evaluate thousands of companies using our 24-factor GARP + Quality framework.
– Focus on firms with positive free cash flow, strong ROIC, healthy balance sheets, and dividend discipline. - Target Yield Without Chasing Risk
– The index aims for a target yield of 4.5%, dynamically adjusted based on prevailing market yields.
– We emphasize quality-adjusted yield over raw yield, protecting against dividend cuts or volatility. - Select the Top 100 Companies
– Final index consists of the best 100 dividend-paying stocks, rebalanced semiannually. - Yield-Weighted for Efficient Income
– Index constituents are weighted by yield, with constraints to avoid concentration and overexposure.
– This structure maximizes income without sacrificing diversification or fundamentals.
What Makes It Different
| Traditional Income Index | MarketGrader U.S. Income 100 |
| Chases high yield regardless of quality | Focuses on sustainable dividends backed by strong fundamentals |
| Overconcentrated in dividend-heavy sectors | Diversifies across size and sector using fundamentals |
| Rarely delivers capital appreciation | Targets income and upside from growth compounders |
| Prone to dividend cuts and risk shocks | Uses GARP + Quality screens to avoid poor-quality companies |
More Than Just U.S. Income
This is our flagship U.S. income index, but the same philosophy applies globally. We build income indexes across global, emerging, and regional markets, all grounded in the same disciplined framework.
Want to build a differentiated income strategy?
Talk to us about licensing this index—or designing a custom income portfolio aligned with your clients’ risk and return goals.
