Nine ETFs That Merit a Look

Not even the blustery winds of Tropical Storm Fay swirling around my office could prevent me from letting you know about the latest exchange-traded funds to get grades from TheStreet.com Ratings.

We have initiated coverage of nine exchange-traded funds that accrued a sufficient track record of risk and performance data by the end of July.

Two of the funds that opened for business in July 2007 received our midlevel Hold rating after their recent performance took a Fay-like mild soaking.

Had the Claymore/SWM Canadian Energy Income Index ETF(ENY) finished its first year in June at the peak of energy prices, before the recent selloff, the first rating received would have been significantly higher than a C.

This ETF holds 100% Canadian oil and gas stocks including Suncor Energy, Baytex Energy and Canadian Oil Sands that were not immune from the retrenching in energy prices.

Starting out with an initial rating of C, the WisdomTree Emerging Markets High-Yielding Equity Fund(DEM) gained 13.59% for the year ending July 31.

The fund's holdings of foreign securities are predominantly from Taiwan, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil and Malaysia. These companies average a dividend yield of 7.89%, although this ETF has paid out income at a yield of only 0.99%.

Down 22.08% for the year, the iShares S&P World ex-US Property Index Fund(WPS) has nowhere to go but up from its initial rating of E-.

Half the fund is in foreign real estate and the other half is in non-U.S. real estate investment trusts. The largest geographic concentrations include 23.2% Japan, 20.4% Hong Kong, 16.2% Australia, 9.8% U.K. and 7.3% France.

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