Strength in iShares MSCI BIC ETF's People Pillar is partially offset by an Average Process Pillar rating, leading to a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the cheapest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy receives an Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an underweight position in quality exposure and yield exposure compared with category peers. Low quality exposure is attributed to stocks with higher financial leverage and lower profitability. And a low yield exposure is rooted in holding fewer stocks with high dividend or buyback yields -- instead, typically holding stocks in an early stage of development. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

Yum China Hlds

Premier Financial

Cushing Energy Income Fund of Benef Interest

Alerus Financial Corp

Yandex

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. iShares MSCI BIC ETF earns an Average Process Pillar rating. The most notable contributor to the rating is the firm's five-year retention rate of 92% over the period. This fund tracks an index, which also increases its process rating. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, shows that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Lastly, the process is limited by the fund's unremarkable long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the process has struggled over that period.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:  The investment seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI BIC Index.  The fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the underlying index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of the underlying index. The index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the combined equity market performance in Brazil and India and China (“BIC”). 

 The portfolio is overweight in consumer cyclical and energy relative to the category average by 7.0 and 3.9 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are technology and financial services, with technology underweighting the average portfolio by 16.6 percentage points of assets and financial services similar to the average. The portfolio has 709 holdings and is similarly diversified as peers, with 26.3% of portfolio assets concentrated within the top 10 holdings. And finally, in terms of portfolio turnover, on a year-over-year basis, 9% of the fund's holdings have turned over, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Average

Process

iShares’s equity team is strong compared with others in the industry, resulting in an Above Average People Pillar rating. There are three managers listed on the fund: Paul Whitehead, Jennifer Hsui, Greg Savage. The team is well equipped, with an average of 18 years of portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 257 strategies, with a Silver asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, demonstrating their potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

Above Average

People

BlackRock offers compelling options across asset classes and vehicles. It earns an Above Average rating for Parent. 
The firm’s approximately USD 8 trillion in assets under management, as of Sept. 30, 2022, gives it unparalleled scale and influence. It is a market-leading index fund provider globally, and its iShares exchange-traded fund franchise offers a low-cost lineup of core funds that investors can use to build a well-diversified portfolio for dirt cheap. The firm can be more adventurous in its ETF launches than some peers, so not everything it launches is appropriate for the masses. As a result, it is likely to have more ETF closures than peers that stick to the basic building blocks.  
The firm’s active fixed-income and multi-asset efforts also stand out as some of the best in the industry. Those benefit from BlackRock’s commitment to building a first-class risk management system via its Aladdin analytics software. The software is also available for sale to other firms and has proved to be a popular option for competitors, a testament to its usefulness. 
More recently, the firm has shifted its focus to ESG offerings and incorporating ESG across its investment lineup, leading to a political backlash in the United States.
BlackRock isn’t the best at everything it tries to do, but retail investors, financial advisors, and large institutions could all build robust portfolios using BlackRock’s products.

Parent

iShares MSCI BRIC ETF

BKF tracks a market cap-weighted index of securities from the 'BIC' economies of Brazil, India, and China.

BKF invests in the so-called "BRIC" equity markets, but excluding Russia. The fund is mostly exposed to China, however, India and Brazil together represent about 38% of the fund.

BKF: A Chinese, Indian, And Brazilian Equity Fund With Strong Potential

iShares MSCI BRIC ETF tracks a market cap-weighted index of Brazil, India, and China's economies. This used to be the BRIC fund, but Russia got the boot.

BKF: This Fund Is No Longer The BRIC We Once Loved

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

Volatility may be the only guarantee in upcoming presidential vote.

Brazil's Elections May Mean Wild Ride for ETF Investors

ProShares Morningstar Alternatives Solution ETF

ProShares UltraShort Australian Dollar

PrShs Sht Ol&Gs Shs

iShares MSCI Russia ETF

Xtr Eurozon

Franklin Tmpltn Shs Franklin FTSE Russia Fund

VanEck Vectors Russia ETF

Direxion Daily Russia Bull 2x Shares

Plus, iShares further expanded its family of iBonds ETFs.

ETF Odds & Ends: Closures Taking Off

BlackRock's iShares has ditched the "R" from its "BRIC" ETF as trading in Russian securities is now virtually impossible.

BlackRock's iShares drops the R from its BRIC ETF as it stops tracking Russian securities.

This iShares MSCI BRIC ETF (BKF) has hit a new 52-week high. Are more gains in store?

iShares MSCI BRIC ETF (BKF) Hits a New 52-Week High

Brazil Manufacturing PMIs gained serious speed in 3Q 2020 compared to 2Q 2020.

BRIC: Manufacturing PMIs Q3 2020

Brazil Composite PMI for 3Q 2020 currently sits at 50.6, barely above the zero-growth line of 50.0 in statistical terms.

BRIC: Composite Economic Activity Indicators

Updated Q2 2020 Composite And Services PMIs For BRIC

News for iShares MSCI BRIC ETF ETF (BKF)