What this ETF is trying to do

The NUVEEN CORE PLUS BOND ETF (ticker: NCPB) is an exchange-traded fund that trades on the NASDAQ. While the specific investment strategy isn't detailed in the data, it is categorized as a bond ETF.

What the numbers show

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

• Price return only tracks how much the share price itself has changed.

• Total return tracks the change in share price *plus* any cash payments (distributions) the ETF gave to investors.

For NCPB, the numbers show that both types of returns have been negative recently:

• One-Year Performance: The one-year price return was -6.42%. However, the one-year total return was -1.49%. This shows that the cash payments helped make the total loss smaller than the share-price decline alone.

• Year-to-Date (YTD) Performance: The YTD price return is -6.17%, while the YTD total return is -2.56%.

The current price of the ETF is $23.69. An estimated price from roughly one year ago was $25.31. To put this in perspective, if you had invested $10,000 into the share price alone a year ago, that value would have dropped based on the -6.42% price return.

Income and distribution explanation

Some investors look for ETFs that pay out regular cash. This is called the distribution yield.

NCPB has a distribution yield of 5.41%. These payments are usually made monthly, and the ETF made 12 payments over the last year. It is very important to remember that a high distribution yield does not mean you have earned that much in total return. As seen in the numbers above, even with a 5.41% yield, the total return for the year was still negative.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" refers to a decline in the value of the underlying assets in the fund. StockValueFinder uses an erosion-risk score to measure this risk.

NCPB has an erosion-risk score of 75, which is labeled as "mild price erosion." This means there is a measurement of mild risk regarding how the share price and value have behaved. There is no "severe erosion-risk flag" for this ETF.

Pros

• Regular Income: The ETF provides cash distributions that are usually paid out every month.

• Yield: It has a distribution yield of 5.41%.

Cons

• Price Decline: The share price has experienced a decline over the last year (-6.42%).

• Negative Total Return: Even when including cash payments, the total return for the past year was negative (-1.49%).

Beginner takeaway

When looking at NCPB, it is helpful to see the difference between the cash you receive and the change in the share price. While the ETF pays a 5.41% distribution yield, the actual share price has fallen. Because the total return is negative, the cash payments were not enough to make up for the drop in the share price over the last year.