TheStreet.Com Ratings: Beware High-Fee ETFs

Be careful the next time you buy an exchange-traded fund. One of the major reasons these funds that trade throughout the day like stocks have been so popular is that their expenses are generally lower than open-end mutual funds.

But that's not always the case, and investors expecting razor-thin expenses should check before executing a trade.

With an average ratio of 0.41%, ETF expenses are almost a full percentage point below the comparable figure of 1.38% for traditional open-end mutual funds. But some ETFs are hitting their investors with annual fees that have wandered well into the range of actively managed open-end funds.

TheStreet.com Ratings database identified the ETFs with the highest and lowest expense ratios. The table below includes those with annual fees and expenses greater than 0.70% and those with fees and expenses less than 0.15%. It includes nine ETFs with expense ratios at the high end of the spectrum and 12 with margins at the bargain basement level -- some are as low as seven cents per year for every $100 managed. ...