What this ETF is trying to do

The Congress Intermediate Bond ETF (ticker: CAFX) is an exchange-traded fund that focuses on bonds. Based on its top holdings, it includes assets like the First American Treasury Obligs X.

What the numbers show

When looking at an ETF, it is important to understand two different types of returns: price return and total return.

• Price Return: This only measures how much the share price has changed. For CAFX, the year-to-date (YTD) price return is approximately -4.46%. The one-year price return is approximately -4.70%.

• Total Return: This includes both the price change and any cash distributions paid out to investors. The YTD total return is approximately -1.55%, and the one-year total return is approximately -0.78%.

Because the total return numbers are higher than the price return numbers, it shows that the cash distributions helped offset some of the share-price decline.

To visualize the price change, we can look at an estimated price from roughly one year ago, which was $25.08. The current price is $23.90.

Income and distribution explanation

This ETF provides cash distributions to investors. The current distribution yield is approximately 4.19%. This means the amount of cash paid out is about 4.19% relative to the current ETF price.

The fund usually pays these distributions monthly, with 12 payments recorded over the last year. Most of these payments have occurred on Thursdays. While distributions provide cash income, they are not the same as total return, and a high yield does not guarantee that your original investment will stay at the same value.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" is a term used to describe when the underlying value of an ETF's assets decreases. It is important to note that a falling market price does not always mean the NAV has declined.

For CAFX, the erosion-risk score is 94, which is labeled as "Stable / sideways." The erosion severity is rated as "good," and there is no severe erosion-risk flag present. This suggests that the fund's price movement is not currently showing signs of high-risk erosion.

Pros

• The fund provides regular monthly cash distributions.

• The erosion-risk measurements suggest the fund is currently stable or moving sideways rather than experiencing severe deterioration.

Cons

• The ETF has experienced a share-price decline over the last year.

• Both the YTD and one-year total returns have been negative.

Beginner takeaway

When looking at CAFX, remember that there is a difference between the share price and the total return. While the share price has gone down, the cash distributions (the yield) helped make the total return slightly better than the price return alone. Always look at both numbers to get a full picture of how an ETF is performing.