This is the third installment in my series comparing single stock covered call exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from two fund sponsors.

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 in November 2023, all of which have corresponding YieldMax ETFs. They are fascinating to compare because the two fund sponsors take very different approaches to the covered call side.

Here are the three previous “shoot outs” I wrote comparing the ETFs from the two sponsors:

·       Alphabet, Inc (GOOGL) on February 3.

·       Apple (AAPL) on January 27.

·       Amazon.com (AMZN) on January 20.

It’s worth noting that while the reports are publishing a week apart, I am using the same start and end dates for all of the comparisons.

This week, I’m comparing the Microsoft Corp. MSFT) 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™ MSFT Option Income Strategy ETF (MSFO) launched on August 24, 2023. MSFO has a current distribution rate of 27.51%.

The Kurv Yield Premium Strategy Microsoft (MSFT) ETF (MSFY) came to market on October 30, 2023. Kurv states the current distribution rate for MSFY is 18.67%.

For these two MSFT tracking ETFs, the options generated yields are quite close compared to the other ETF pairs I have looked at. Here are the results for the two ETFs. I am using the same start and end dates for each of these weekly reports.

Since the late 2023 launch of MSFY, the ETF significantly underperformed its YieldMax counterpart: MSFO posted a total return of 20.94%, compared to 15.85% from MSFY.

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.

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

And now this week, YieldMax takes the title with MSFO. Kurv’s MSFY lagged by a significant amount.ewsletter helps investors select single-stock, covered-call ETFs with the best potential for total gains.