Five Unheralded ETF Yield Plays

As has been noted countless times in recent months, dividend ETFs are a booming corner of the exchange-traded products universe. With good reason, too. In this topsy-turvy market, depending on capital appreciation alone is a tricky bet. At this point, the yield story as it pertains to ETFs has not been completely unveiled. Most investors know they can find robust yield with a fund like PowerShares Financial Preferred ETF PGF or get exposure to a broad swath of dividend payers with an ETF like the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF VIG. What about going off the beaten path in search of some high-yielding ETFs? Let's do just that right now with these surprise high-yielders. Guggenheim Shipping ETF SEA: As Benzinga noted on Tuesday, the Guggenheim Shipping ETF is one of just a few ETFs focusing on transportation stocks and while the chart isn't a thing of beauty, SEA doesn't focus on the more speculative names in the shipping sector. The investor that is willing to embrace some risk and volatility with SEA will sail away with a yield that is currently 6.73%. iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund EWZ: No need to do a double take. You're seeing this correctly. The iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund is indeed a high yielder. No, EWZ is not obscure. It's one of the biggest emerging markets ETFs out there. But as a yield play, it rarely enters the conversation. Let's change that by telling you EWZ now yields 5.4%. Oh yeah, there's great potential for capital appreciation as emerging markets come back into favor. Vanguard MSCI Europe ETF VGK: For those not living under a rock, the inclusion of the Vanguard MSCI Europe ETF on this list is not a surprise. VGK may have Europe in its name, but it holds some stocks that are worth owning, Royal Dutch Shell RDS and Nestle NSRGY among them. Here are two numbers everyone will like: VGK has an expense ratio of 0.14% and a yield of 5%. WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund DEM: The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund probably doesn't qualify as obscure either, but if you're going to cozy up to a multi-country emerging markets ETF, you might as well get paid to do so. Over 41% of DEM's country allocation goes to Taiwan and Brazil, but the ETF features a 30-day SEC yield of almost 8.1%. Biotech HOLDRS BBH: Biotech isn't usually the first sector income investors head to. Not to mention stock-picking within this group can be about as a pleasant as walking through a minefield. That said, the Biotech HOLDRS offers a jaw-dropping yield of almost 10.4%. Bull case: None of these ETFs are particularly conservative, so almost everything needs to go right in the broader market for these funds to run higher. Patient investors can find a home with EWZ, DEM and maybe VGK. Bear case: Get too many more days like Wednesday and VGK will suffer even more. That will drag EWZ and DEM into the muck as well.