WisdomTree International Mltfctr’s management team is rated Average, but a solid investment process still helps this strategy retain its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze. The portfolio maintains a cost advantage over competitors, priced within the lowest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's effective investment philosophy supports an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant underweight position in volatility exposure and an overweight in yield exposure compared with category peers. Low volatility exposure is attributed to stocks with a lower standard deviation of returns. And a high yield exposure is rooted in holding high dividend-paying or buyback stocks. The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm a Below 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

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Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category index on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. WisdomTree International Mltfctr Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. 

The largest contributor to the rating is its parent firm's excellent long-term risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars. The parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 54% also influences the rating. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and outperformed their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. Their impressive success ratio suggests that the firm does well for investors and that this fund may benefit from that. Lastly, the process is limited by the turnover of talent across its parent firm. The firm's asset-weighted manager tenure of three years suggests it could do more to retain portfolio managers.

 This strategy leans toward smaller, more value-oriented companies compared with its average peer in the Foreign Large Blend Morningstar Category. Examining additional factor exposure, this strategy has consistently exhibited a tilt toward low-volatility stocks or companies whose shares have a history of lower standard deviation of returns, compared with its Morningstar Category peers in recent years. These low-risk stocks are typically at their best when markets are not. Low volatility exposure contributes to limited loss on the downside at the cost of a lag in bull markets. In the latest month, the strategy was also less exposed to the Volatility factor compared with Morningstar Category peers. This strategy's portfolio also has had exposure to more stocks with high dividend or buyback yields over peers in these years. High-yield stocks tend to be connected to more mature companies earning enough cash to return some to shareholders. At times, however, extreme market pressure can force them to cut their dividends, which hurts stock performance. Compared with category peers, the strategy also had more exposure to the Yield factor in the most recent month. In addition, this strategy has taken on exposure to high-momentum stocks in these years. Momentum is based on the premise that market outperformers will continue to outperform, and laggards will continue to lag. This means that managers are overweighting stocks currently on a winning streak. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Momentum factor over its peers. More information on a fund and its respective category's factor exposure can be found in the Factor Profile module within the Portfolio section. 

 The portfolio is overweight in consumer defensive and utilities relative to the category average by 5.6 and 4.9 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are technology and consumer cyclical, underweight the average by 6.9 and 4.0 percentage points of assets, respectively. The strategy owns 201 securities and its assets are more dispersed than peers in the category. In particular, 10.6% of the portfolio's assets are concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, as opposed to the category average's 15.7%.

Above Average

Process

WisdomTree International Mltfctr Fund earns an Average People Pillar rating. Marlene Walker-Smith, the longest-tenured manager on the strategy, boasts 12 years of listed portfolio management experience. The average Morningstar Rating of the strategies they currently manage is 3.5 stars, indicating that their risk-adjusted returns outperformed the category average. Marlene Walker-Smith has an adequate backdrop of support, drawing on four additional listed managers, averaging five years of listed portfolio management experience. As a team, they manage 114 investment vehicles together, with a Bronze asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating the potential to deliver positive alpha in aggregate. The team has not run into any turnover issues, with similar management retention to peers. The most recent documented departure was within the past two years. None of the portfolio managers here invest in this fund. This hurts the rating because manager investment would align their interests with the strategy's investors.

 Note: The People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. The longest-tenured manager of the fund also manages a different product rated by an analyst. Their analyst-assigned People Pillar rating is combined here with the People scores (algorithmic or analyst-assigned) for the fund’s other managers on a tenure-weighted basis.

Average

People

WisdomTree is improving, but its shaky global fund lineup and uncertain trajectory hold its rating to Below Average. 

WisdomTree’s research organization has long been a strength. Under CIO Jeremy Schwartz, the team has generated creative, economically sound ideas and evolved them into investable products, like the efficient core series. A recent focus on investor education spawned the Portfolio Analysis Tools Hub, an online platform that taps the team’s brainpower to help investors make better investment decisions.

The firm’s product lineup is a mixed bag. To complement its core lineup of fundamentally weighted strategies, WisdomTree has recently launched funds targeting established factors instead of trendy themes—an encouraging reorientation. Yet the shutdown of WisdomTree U.S. Growth and Momentum ETF calls WisdomTree’s commitment to these funds into question, and vestiges from its laxer product-development era look ripe for closure. Its European lineup features risky trading tools that are hard for investors to use well. 

WisdomTree’s future may hinge on WisdomTree Prime, its blockchain-based digital wallet. The launch reflects founder and CEO Jonathan Steinberg’s conviction in the disruptive potential of the blockchain. Prime shouldn’t hurt WisdomTree fund investors (most funds on the platform are zero-fee), but it may distract the firm from shoring up its core offering.

Below Average

Parent

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