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The two fund sponsors of single-stock covered call ETFs have six funds each that “cover” the same popular stocks.

Single-stock covered call ETFs provide investment exposure to popular stocks like Amazon and Nvidia, with the added benefit of attractive dividend yields from selling call options. YieldMax offers this type of ETF on several dozen popular stocks. The first of these launched in November 2022.

Kurv launched six single-stock ETFs a year later, in November 2023. The Kurv ETFs each have corresponding YieldMax ETFs. Comparing these ETFs is fascinating because the two fund sponsors take very different approaches to the covered call side.

Here are the four previous “shootouts” I wrote comparing the ETFs from the two sponsors:

·       Microsoft Corp (MSFT) on February 10. Read the article HERE.

·       Alphabet, Inc (GOOGL) on February 3. Read the article HERE.

·       Apple (AAPL) on January 27. Read the article HERE.

·       Amazon.com (AMZN) on January 20. Read the article HERE.

While these reports are published each Monday, I am using the same start and end dates for all of the comparisons.

This week, I’m comparing the two fund sponsors’ Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) covered call ETFs. Note that these ETFs pay variable-rate monthly distributions, and the current yields reported here are from the fund sponsor websites.

The YieldMax NFLX Option Income Strategy ETF (NFLY) launched on August 7, 2023. NFLY has a current distribution rate of 75.51%.

The Kurv Yield Premium Strategy Netflix (NFLX) ETF (NFLP) came to market on October 30, 2023. Kurv states the current distribution rate for NFLP is 27.62%.

The 50% difference between the two yields is the largest in this series. In other words, the NFLY yield is almost triple the rate currently paid by NFLP.

Here are the results for the two ETFs. I am using the same start and end dates for each of these weekly reports.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Since the late 2023 launch of NFLP, the total return numbers have stayed very close. You can see that the Kurv ETF generated much better share price gains, but the BIG dividend yield from NFLY puts the YieldMax fund slightly in the lead when we look at total return. And total return is the return we most care about.

Here is the scorecard for the first three ETF battles.

·       For Amazon.com, I rated it as a tie between AMZY and AMZP.

·       For Apple, Inc. The Kurv fund, symbol AAPY, beat its YieldMax counterpart APLY.

·       GOOP from Kurv took the title over YieldMax’s GOOY.

·       Last week, YieldMax took the title with MSFO. Kurv’s MSFY lagged by a significant amount.

·       This week, the YieldMax NFLY was the slight winner over Kurv’s NFLP. Although total returns in the 70% range in just over a year would make investors happy with either or both.

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