IShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF EFV constructs a well-diversified, market-cap-weighted portfolio of cheaper stocks from foreign developed markets at a low cost. The fund accurately represents the contours of its Morningstar Category average despite its narrower geographic scope, accentuating its fee advantage. 

The fund tracks the MSCI EAFE Value Index, which selects the cheaper half of overseas developed-markets large- and mid-cap stocks. It weights stocks by their market cap, harnessing the market’s collective wisdom of each stock’s relative value.

Market-cap weighting is efficient in the mid- and large-cap space because markets tend to price such stocks accurately. Stocks with increasing valuations and improving fundamentals receive more exposure in the portfolio than those on the decline with deteriorating fundamentals. Along with index buffers, market-cap weighting helps reduce turnover and the associated trading costs.

The fund diversifies risk effectively. Its broad reach sweeps in about 500 stocks, mitigating stock-specific risk. In addition, the fund includes stocks that sit in the middle of the Morningstar Style Box, improving the portfolio’s diversification and dampening volatility. 

The fund closely mimics the shape of its average category peer, enhancing the impact of its low fee, which helps drive sound category-relative returns. The fund sports similar sector compositions. No sector deviated by more than 7 percentage points from its average peer. It slightly leaned into financial services and real estate stocks while underweighting technology and consumer discretionary stocks as of September 2023. The fund’s value orientation was also in line with its average peer.

The fund’s country allocations were slightly different from its average category peer but a had limited impact on its performance. The fund sports larger helpings of Japanese and Australian stocks and excludes emerging-markets stocks, which could hinder performance if emerging markets such as China and Taiwan perform better than developed markets. However, emerging markets tend to be more volatile and represented only 4% of the average category portfolio as of September 2023, limiting their impact on the fund’s category-relative risk-adjusted returns.

This fund's 0.34% expense ratio is in the cheapest quintile among its category peers, giving the fund a lower hurdle to keep pace with category peers.

Analyst Rating

Broad exposure to foreign value stocks.

Associate Analyst

Mo'ath Almahasneh

Shell PLC

Novan

Rogers

TotalEnergies SE

Autoliv

Banco Santander

BHP Billiton

GlaxoSmithKline

Rio Tinto plc Sponsored

The fund constructs a market-cap-weighted portfolio that accurately mimics the shape of the category average and diversifies risk effectively. It earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

Above Average

Process

BlackRock's industry-leading technology, global footprint, and extensive supporting cast earn an Above Average People Pillar rating. The team employs BlackRock's Aladdin platform to fulfill much of its portfolio management tasks, and global trading desks allow traders to conduct foreign transactions in a cost-effective way.

The iShares index equity team has endured some internal turnover at the top over the past few years. But index-tracking performance should remain tight, thanks to heavily automated processes, a large team of seasoned professionals, and several long-tenured managers that remain at the helm. Amy Whitelaw left the team in February 2023 for another role within the organization. Paul Whitehead replaced Alan Mason as a manager in January 2022, when Mason left to focus on the firm's customized institutional indexing capabilities. The broader index equity group, co-headed by Jennifer Hsui and Paul Whitehead, will continue to oversee iShares equity ETFs.

These managers interact with a wider team of traders and managers around the globe to execute the fund's day-to-day operations. The larger number of managers also limits the impact of personnel turnover when it does occur.

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 EAFE Value ETF

EFV tracks a market-cap-weighted index of developed-market value stocks from Europe, Australia and the Far East.

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF offers exposure to international value stocks and has $17 billion in net assets.

EFV: A Change In Cycle Can Favor This Big Time

Dimensional International Value ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF holds about 500 stocks from developed markets except the U.S. and Canada. The top two countries are Japan and the U.K., and the portfolio is overweight in financials. DFIV, an actively managed international value fund, beats EFV in valuation, growth metrics, and performance.

EFV Vs. DFIV: Which Is The Best Ex-U.S. Value ETF?

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

Invesco QQQ

Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF

iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF

U.S. stocks had an upbeat July. Investors poured money into the S&P 500 ETFs.

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iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF is invested in developed markets except the U.S. and Canada. Over 60% of assets are in Europe, but Japan is the top country.

EFV: An Ex-U.S. Value ETF Overweight In Financials

AbbVie

Amgen

Ares Capital

BlackRock Taxable Municipal Bond Trust

BlackRock Science & Technology

Clorox

Digital Realty Trust

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF

Fastenal

Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Securities Income Fund Inc

Home Depot

Johnson & Johnson

Kimberly-Clark

Lockheed Martin

McDonald's

Magellan Midstream Partners

Altria

NextEra Energy

PIMCO Dynamic Income Fund

Cohen & Steers Quality Income Realty Fund

iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF

Proshares Short 20+ Year Treasury

Tekla World Healthcare Fund

The stock market is inherently volatile. With the economy going through the boom and bust cycles more frequently, the extreme ups and downs of the market are inevitable. For most conservative investors, especially retirees, it's very difficult to tolerate large and deep drawdowns. However, it is almost impossible to avoid these issues with index investing.

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Nuveen Build America Bond Fund

iSh SP US PrfSt Shs

Texas Instruments

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Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

We will go over our thesis as to how a diversified income method with low volatility could make you financially independent. We regularly write about multi-basket income strategies with an in-built hedging mechanism to keep the drawdowns to a minimum. They provide not only consistent income but also long-term growth with 30% less volatility.

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The relative interest of investors in search of value outside the US has increased in the last few years. EFV appears to have attractive multiples, potentially indicating a bargain.

EFV: Not Much Value In EAFE

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio), the CEO and fundamental portfolio manager of Causeway Capital Management, recently released the firm's 13F portfolio updates for the third quarter of 2022, which ended on Sept. 30.

Sarah Ketterer's Causeway Goes All In on Value Outside the US

EFV invests in developed markets outside of the U.S. and Canada. The fund remains undervalued, however, its portfolio is also very balanced across all sectors.

EFV: International Value Stocks Remain Cheap

EFV represents a traditional profile of value stocks. It offers high earnings yield and dividend yields, with substantial US financial exposures.

EFV Is Traditional, Defensive Value

Market return forecasts favor an overweight to foreign stocks vs. U.S. shares. International Value could be the niche best positioned for the next market regime.

International Value's Huge 2022 Outperformance: Time To Buy EFV

The global growth to value rotation is well underway and looks like it still has legs. The shift in global interest rates is a key driver.

IShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF: Appropriate Conditions To Support Outperformance

Automatic Data Processing

Calamos Convertible Opportunities And Income Fund

DNP Select Income Fund Inc

Enterprise Products Partners

Annaly Capital

PIMCO Dynamic Credit and Mortgage Income Fund

Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Func Inc

No portfolio or strategy can be perfect. But can there be a strategy that can work well in a bull market, a bear market, or a stagnant market, generate a decent income, and conserve capital, all at the same time? We also want our strategy to avoid roller-coaster rides of index investing, have low volatility and limited drawdowns in case of deep corrections.

The Near-Perfect Portfolio For The Good Times And Bad

EFV invests in so-called value stocks abroad, outside the United States and Canada. Relative to earnings expectations, the implied cost of equity is well in excess of 10%, although the portfolio's underlying return on equity is closer to 10%.

EFV: Global Value Stocks Look Comparatively Cheap

EFV is based on a value index constructed by MSCI, which appears to live up to its name. The MSCI EAFE Value Index captures stock that appear to be cheap based on price/earnings, book value, and dividend yields.

EFV: Global Value Stocks Offer Moderate Upside Potential

CareTrust REIT

Lululemon Athletica

NVIDIA

Global X Silver Miners ETF

iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF

Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund

Investment company UMA Financial Services, Inc. (Current Portfolio) buys BTC iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF, The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, Co-Diagnostics Inc, Bank of America Corp, iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF, sells Schwab U.S. Large-Cap ETF, iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF, JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF, Alibaba Group Holding, TC Pipelines LP during the 3-months ended 2021Q1, according to the most recent filings of the investment company, UMA Financial Services, Inc.. As of 2021Q1, UMA Financial Services, Inc. owns 136 stocks with a total value of $293 million.

UMA Financial Services, Inc. Buys BTC iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF, The Energy Select Sector.

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iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF

American Century STOXX U.S. Quality Value ETF

Invesco S&P SmallCap Value with Momentum ETF

After growth's long ascendancy, value shares are getting their day in the sun. To determine which have the best prospects, check for factors including liquidity, quality, size, and momentum.

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Xtrackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares MSCI China ETF

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

Stocks outside the U.S. are heating up and attracting assets.

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ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF

iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol EAFE ETF

iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

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SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ

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Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund

For the second consecutive month, mutual fund investors were net purchasers of fund assets, injecting $28.0 billion into the conventional funds business for January. Fixed income funds (+$80.0 billion for January, another monthly record) witnessed net inflows for the ninth month in a row, while money market funds (-$3.5 billion) suffered net outflows.

Investors Sour On Large-Cap Growth Funds And ETFs In January

The average equity fund (including ETFs) just managed to stay in positive territory for January, posting a 0.28% return for a third consecutive month of plus-side performance. Investors injected a net $60.9 billion into ETFs in January, with equity ETFs (+$40.5 billion) attracting the largest net inflows.

Rotation Toward Cyclical And Out-Of-Favor Issues Continued In January

ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETF

ARK Innovation ETF

A few ETFs have garnered solid investors' interest to start a New Year and will continue to be their darlings in the month of love.

6 Hot ETFs That Could be Investors' Darling in February

First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX Fund

JPMorgan High Yield Research Enhanced ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

Investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including those of conventional funds and ETFs) for the third consecutive week. They injected $33.4 billion for Refinitiv Lipper's fund-flows week ended January 27, 2021. Fund investors padded the coffers of money market funds (+$21.0 billion), taxable bond funds (+$7.9 billion), tax-exempt fixed income funds (+$2.8 billion, their second largest weekly net inflows on record), and equity funds (+$1.6 billion) this week.

U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Municipal Bond Funds Attract Second Largest Weekly Net Inflows On Record For Fund-Flows Week

SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF

For the Lipper fund-flows week, investors were net purchasers of fund and ETF assets, injecting $3.6 billion into equity funds, $10.3 billion into taxable bond funds, and $2.4 billion into tax-exempt bond funds. Investors were net redeemers of money market funds.

Investors Continue Move Back Into Asset Classes Out Of Favor Since COVID

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol USA ETF

U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight Report: Investors Remained Focused On Fixed Income Funds During The Fund Flows Week Despite Record Market Highs

EFV's purpose is to track the investment results of the MSCI EAFE Value Index, which represents a narrower fraction of the MSCI EAFE Index since equities with poor value characteristics were removed. P/E, P/B, and dividend yield are not the best choice in many complex cases.

EFV: Analysis And A Few Words In Defense Of Value Investing

News for iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF ETF (EFV)