Every week, DiviTracker publishes a ranking of YieldMax ETFs by a single number: net per share. It appears in the weekly recap table, it drives the top-mover order, and it’s the first figure mentioned when one ETF stands out from the rest. This page explains exactly what that number is, how it’s calculated, and — just as importantly — what it is not.
Why DiviTracker Uses Net per Share
Weekly distributions are easy to find. Fund sponsors publish them every Friday. But a distribution amount tells you the output — the cash that left the fund. It doesn’t tell you what option activity happened during the week that funded it, or whether that activity was thin or rich relative to the fund’s size.
DiviTracker focuses on the income-source signal: the realized option premium cashflow that accumulates during the trading week from intraday transaction records. Net per share is how that signal gets normalized so that a $500K net from a small fund and a $500K net from a large fund aren’t treated as equivalent.
→ See an example in the weekly recap post for 2026-02-27, or check the Glossary entry for CASHFLOW (/SH).
The Net per Share Formula
Shares Outstanding
The calculation is straightforward. For each ETF, within the US Mon–Fri weekly window:
The data comes from intraday transaction records — the same files that populate the individual ticker pages. Only realized trades within the weekly window are included. Position construction trades are excluded from the income calculation so the signal reflects premium activity only.
Why the Metric Is Calculated Per Share
Raw net income numbers scale directly with fund size. A fund with 10 million shares and $3M net looks identical to a fund with 800K shares and $3M net on an absolute basis — but the per-share signal is completely different.
The table below uses a historical week (2026-02-23 to 2026-02-27) as a concrete example. DRAY’s absolute net was roughly one-third of PLTY’s that week, but its per-share signal was nearly four times larger because its share base is much smaller. Actual values change weekly.
| Ticker | Net (absolute) | Shares Out | Net / Share | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLTY | $3,384,863 | 9,125,000 | $0.371 | Large fund — large absolute net, moderate per-share signal |
| HIYY | $852,146 | 1,150,000 | $0.741 | Mid-size fund — solid per-share signal |
| DRAY | $1,069,250 | 775,000 | $1.380 | Smaller fund — same-scale net produces highest per-share signal |
Source: DiviTracker weekly data, week ended 2026-02-27. Net figures are realized option premium cashflow only.
Without per-share normalization, PLTY would rank first every week simply because it manages more assets. The ranking would reflect fund size, not income-source intensity.
What Net per Share Actually Measures
Net per share is an observed signal of option premium activity during the weekly window. It captures how much realized premium cashflow the fund generated — or spent — relative to its share count.
Net per share = the realized option premium net for the week, divided by shares outstanding. It is a data point, not a forecast.
When a fund ranks high in a given week, it means option activity produced a strong premium-in versus premium-out ratio that week, at that fund’s size. It does not mean the fund “performed well” in a total-return sense, and it does not predict what happens next week.
→ Ticker pages: DRAY · HIYY · PLTY
What the Metric Does Not Measure
- Next distribution amount. Distributions are declared by the fund sponsor. This metric tracks income-source activity, not the funding decision.
- Total return or profitability. A high net per share in a given week can coexist with NAV erosion. The two are not the same thing.
- Unrealized exposure. Open positions and their mark-to-market value are not included in this calculation.
- Repeatability. A strong signal one week does not guarantee a similar signal the following week. Coverage and market conditions change.
How Net per Share Appears in Weekly Recaps
Each week, DiviTracker processes intraday files from the US Mon–Fri window and produces a ranked list of movers sorted by net per share descending. The table is a discovery tool — it surfaces which ETFs showed unusual income-source activity that week, so they can be examined further.
The top-ranked ticker is not necessarily the “best” ETF. It is the one whose option premium activity, relative to its share count, stood out most in that specific window. Coverage quality — how many intraday files were captured — is always shown alongside the metric for that reason.
→ Example: 2026-02-27 weekly recap · Glossary: COVERAGE
Net per Share in Context: Coverage, Premium, and What to Check Next
The metric works best when read alongside two other indicators in the weekly table:
- Matched intraday files — a proxy for data coverage within the window. A high net per share from a ticker with only 1–2 matched files is less reliable than the same figure from a ticker with 4–5 files.
- Premium / discount to NAV — pricing context. A fund trading at a significant discount while showing strong net per share is a different situation than one at a premium. The two signals can diverge.
Neither of these indicators changes the net per share figure. They change how much weight to place on it in a given week. The consistent habit is to check coverage first, then react to the rank order.
Check intraday file count before reacting to net per share rank. A ratio is only as reliable as the data behind it.
DiviTracker is a personal data-journal for options income-source tracking. Not investment advice. Data may be delayed or incomplete. Net per share is a derived signal, not an audited figure.
[…] here, two posts go deeper on the inputs that matter most. Net per Share — What It Measures and What It Doesn’t breaks down the formula behind the weekly ranking figure. Why Coverage Matters When Reading Weekly […]