Remaining two shades of value - Value plus Profitability & Mild Value - will be discussed in this part.
Value Plus Profitability
The other group of value funds that has outperformed the broader market in the postcrisis period featured lower value loadings than the deep-value ETFs but had exposure to the profitability factor (RMW). Profitability is sometimes used as a proxy for a firm's quality. Many of these funds follow indexes that either screen or weight their holdings on the basis of their dividend payments or yields.
Dividend strategies can cue off measures that may also be indicators of value (dividend yield) and/or profitability (dividend stability or growth). All things being equal, when a company is profitable it may increase the dividends it pays to shareholders. In this instance, a higher dividend payout may signal management's confidence regarding future profitability. On the other hand, dividend yields increase when a stock's price declines. This could result from a slump in a firm's prospects. Thus, a strategy that emphasizes dividends may buy companies that are increasing dividend payments (profitability), those that have experienced recent slump (value), or some combination of the two.