ETF Education Report: Eaton Vance Intermediate Municipal Income ETF (EVIM)

What this ETF is trying to do

The Eaton Vance Intermediate Municipal Income ETF (EVIM) is an exchange-traded fund listed on the NYSE. While the specific investment strategy is not detailed in the provided data, municipal income ETFs generally focus on providing income through bonds issued by local governments.

What the numbers show

When looking at an ETF, it is important to understand the difference between "price return" and "total return."

• Price Return: This measures only the change in the share price. For EVIM, the year-to-date (YTD) price return is approximately -4.96%. The one-year price return is approximately -4.00%.

• Total Return: This includes both the share price changes and the money paid out to investors (distributions). The YTD total return is approximately -2.45%, and the one-year total return is approximately -0.57%.

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

To visualize this, we can look at an estimated price from roughly one year ago. The estimated price was $52.54, while the current price is $50.44.

Income and distribution explanation

This ETF provides cash payments to investors, known as distributions. The distribution yield is approximately 3.67%. These payments happen frequently; the data shows 12 distributions over the last year, usually occurring on a monthly basis. Most of these payments have been made on Fridays.

It is important to remember that a distribution yield tells you how much cash was paid out relative to the price, but it is not the same as your total return.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" refers to a decline in the Net Asset Value, which is the actual value of the assets held by the fund. While a falling share price can sometimes be related to erosion, they are not the same thing.

StockValueFinder uses an "erosion-risk score" to measure this risk. EVIM has an erosion score of 94, which is labeled as "Stable / sideways." The erosion severity is rated as "good," and there is no severe erosion-risk flag present for this ETF.

Pros

• The fund provides regular monthly distributions.

• The erosion-risk score suggests the fund's value has been relatively stable or moving sideways rather than experiencing major deterioration.

Cons

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

• The total return has been negative for both the year-to-date and one-year periods.

Beginner takeaway

When studying EVIM, notice that the share price has gone down, but the total return is slightly better because of the cash distributions. Always look at both price returns and total returns to get a full picture of how an ETF is performing.