Launched on 02/23/2012, the iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (DVYE) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market.What Are Smart Beta ETFs?For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.Fund Sponsor & IndexThe fund is managed by Blackrock. DVYE has been able to amass assets over $531.85 M, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. Before fees and expenses, DVYE seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index.The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index measures the performance of the companies in emerging market countries that have provided relatively high dividend yields on a consistent basis over time.Cost & Other ExpensesCost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.49%.The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 5.74%.Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsEven though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.Looking at individual holdings, Severstal (CHMF) accounts for about 2.21% of total assets, followed by Astral Foods Ltd (ARL) and Magnitogorskiy Metallurgicheskiy K (MAGN).Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 17.97% of DVYE's total assets under management.Performance and RiskThe ETF return is roughly 3.99% and is down about -1.50% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 05/22/2019), respectively. DVYE has traded between $36.59 and $42.19 during this last 52-week period.The fund has a beta of 0.78 and standard deviation of 15.41% for the trailing three-year period, which makes DVYE a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 121 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.AlternativesIShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Emerging Market ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China An Inclusion Index. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $56.35 B in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $61.04 B. IEMG has an expense ratio of 0.14% and VWO charges 0.12%.Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Emerging Market ETFs.Bottom LineTo learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (DVYE): ETF Research Reports Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO): ETF Research Reports American Realty Investors, Inc. (ARL): Get Free Report iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research