iShares Latin America 40 ETF’s Process Pillar rating is Average, but a strong management team 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 management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy gets an Average Process Pillar rating.  Low liquidity risk exposure is attributed to stocks with a low trading volume, limiting managers' flexibility. And low volatility exposure is rooted in stocks that have a lower standard deviation of returns. 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

Nu Holdings

Credicorp

Southern Copper

Associated Capital Group

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. iShares Latin America 40 ETF earns an Average Process Pillar rating. The main driver of the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. The firm's five-year retention rate of 92% also supports the process. 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 S&P Latin America 40TM composed of 40 of the largest Latin American equities.  The fund generally invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its underlying index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its underlying index. It seeks to track the investment results of the S&P Latin America 40TM (the "underlying index") and which is composed of selected equities trading on the exchanges of five Latin American countries. The fund is non-diversified. 

 The portfolio is overweight in financial services and consumer defensive relative to the category average by 5.5 and 4.5 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are utilities and industrials, underweight the average by 4.7 and 3.7 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is positioned across 54 holdings and is quite concentrated. More concretely, 57.7% of the strategy's assets are housed within the top 10 holdings, as opposed to the category average of 39.1%. And finally, in terms of portfolio turnover, looking at year-over-year movements, 24% of the fund's holdings have turned over, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Average

Process

iShares Latin America 40 ETF benefits considerably from its equity team, earning it 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 solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Silver asset-weighted Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating a position 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 Latin America 40 ETF

ILF tracks a market-cap-weighted index of 40 of the largest Latin American firms.

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iShares MSCI China Small-Cap ETF

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iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF

First Trust Brazil AlphaDEX Fund

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Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF

Franklin FTSE China ETF

Franklin FTSE Hong Kong ETF

Franklin FTSE Latin America ETF

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First Trust Latin America AlphaDEX Fund

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iShares China Large-Cap ETF

ProShares UltraShort FTSE China 50

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KraneShares MSCI All China Index ETF

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China and Hong Kong markets had a humbling 2023 with equities down more than 10%. Beijing has also begun stepping up tourism and travel promotions, granting visa-free entry to 11 countries, with Singapore and Thailand the latest to be included.

Enter The Dragon: Parsing Lunar New Year Opportunities Among Emerging Markets

iShares Latin America 40 ETF offers exposure to Latin America's potential high-growth ventures and established industries. The ILF ETF holds a diversified portfolio of 42 stocks, including top holdings in metals and mining, petroleum, and banking sectors. Investing in ILF provides diversification, potential for high returns, and accessibility to Latin American markets, but comes with market volatility, currency risk, and regulatory risk.

ILF: Latin America Exposure Should The Cycle Favor It

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Vanguard Total International Stock ETF

World stocks that hold US shares are up 1.6% year to date while foreign equities ex-US are down 1.5% in 2024. The Japanese stock market was a strong competitor vis-à-vis US shares last year too.

American Stocks Continue To Lead Global Equities Ex-U.S. In 2024

iShares Latin America 40 ETF has robust returns and relative strength compared to the S&P 500 in 2023. ILF has a high dividend yield and moderate expense ratio, but investors should be cautious due to volatility. ILF's portfolio is concentrated in large-cap value stocks, with a significant allocation in the Financials sector and Materials space.

ILF: Value Seen In Latin America, Patience Needed For The Breakout

Latin American stocks have been one of the better-performing international / value equity market segments YTD. ILF is a simple Latin American stock index ETF, sports a 7.1% forward yield, and a cheap valuation. A look at the fund, and some of its recent developments, follows.

ILF: Recent Developments

The US Dollar Index reached its highest level since early July, which usually leads to lower commodity prices, but this time oil prices have remained high. The iShares Latin America 40 ETF has performed well, with a 6-month return of over 11%, but it has underperformed the SPX lately. ILF has a high dividend yield and a low forward P/E ratio, but it is not very diversified and has a high concentration in its top 10 holdings.

ILF: Dollar Strength Weighs On Relative Returns, Bullish Seasonal Stretch Ahead

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Periods of global instability create intriguing possibilities in emerging markets. Here are a few.

Why I Still Like Emerging Markets

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Bull vs. Bear is a weekly feature where the VettaFi writers' room takes opposite sides for a debate on controversial stocks, strategies, or market ideas — with plenty of discussion of ETF ideas to play either angle. For this edition of Bull vs.

Bull vs Bear: Up or Down for Latin American Equities

Global X Copper Miners ETF

First Trust Natural Gas ETF

Li Auto Inc.

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Pinduoduo Inc - ADR

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Vipshop Hlds

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Under The Radar Strength In Commodity And Emerging Market Stocks (Technical Analysis)

The growth trigger remains the recovery of the U.S. and Chinese economies as major trading partners. Most of the fund's companies are from cyclical or slow-growth sectors (materials, energy, financials). Regulatory risks are also present. The continent's growth forecast for 2023 is 0.6%.

iShares Latin America 40 ETF: Slow Growth And Double-Digit Dividend Yield

Latin America 40 ETF is down over the last 6 months while most other areas are in the black. With high exposure to value and cyclical sectors, ILF may feature volatility in the coming months.

Latin American Equities A Risky Bet Today, Wait For A Dip On ILF

Diversifying into global markets ex-US has been a frustrating choice for asset allocation for much of the past decade. So far in the new year, Europe is the leader.

Foreign Stocks Are Hot Again. Will It Last?

Ambev

iShares MSCI Argentina & Global Exposure ETF

iShares MSCI Peru ETF

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Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.

Petroleo Brasileiro

Vale S.A.

The MSCI Latin America Index has performed better than the MSCI Emerging Market Index cumulatively over the past 5 and 7 years as well as over longer time periods, buoyed by its natural resource companies. The region is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities created by the renewable energy revolution with 54% of global lithium reserves concentrated there.

Investment Opportunities In Latin America

ILF invests in the 40 largest Latin American stocks. The fund yields a whopping 11.4%, and has seen double-digit dividend growth these past few years.

ILF: Latin America Equity Index ETF, Double-Digit Dividend Yield, Double-Digit Dividend Growth

This article will cover the iShares Latin America 40 ETF. This exchange-traded fund is an ok, but not the best, vehicle to access Latin American equities. The key appeal of Latin American equities is the fact that these are very cheap on a historical basis, although the political and economic risks are not terrible.

iShares Latin America 40 ETF: Right Region, Not The Best Vehicle

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Water Scarcity In Latin America: Operational Challenges

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MSCI Chile ETF's commodity exposure boosting 2022 returns.

Spotlight: In Solid LatAm, Chile Stands Out

iShares Latin America 40 ETF (ILF) tracks 40 of Latin America's largest companies. 65% of the fund is directed towards Brazil, with Mexico and Chile accounting for another 30%.

ILF: A Strong Look At The Latin Oportunidades

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It's been a tough year for the stocks, in the US and around the world – with a glaring exception, shares in Latin America. Using a set of exchange-traded funds as proxies shows that iShares Latin America 40 is an upside outlier.

Stocks In Latin America Are Outperforming This Year

Latin American exposures aren't too bad. FX exposures are limited in risk. On the sectoral exposure side, things actually look pretty decent, although we note pretty heavy exposure to the price of commodities.

ILF Is Commodity Levered, But Otherwise Resilient

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iShares MSCI Colombia ETF

Economies of Latin America and Caribbean have continued their strong post-pandemic rebound, but the winds are shifting as global financial conditions are tightening and commodity prices are reversing their upward trend, while inflationary pressures persist. The reopening of contact-intensive sectors, especially hospitality and travel, the unwinding of pandemic pent-up demand, and still favorable external financial conditions supported a solid expansion in the first half of the year, allowing services to catch up with manufacturing, and employment to reach pre-pandemic levels.

Shifting Global Winds Pose Challenges To Latin America

ILF is probably within the bounds of fair value. ILF's underlying cost of equity is likely high, but that means promising returns provided the fund is not overvalued, and I do not think it is.

ILF: Latin American Stocks Offer Promising Returns At Present Prices

Wall Street witnessed its worst performance in Q1 in two years due to the Russia-Ukraine war, red-hot inflation and rising-rate worries after an upbeat 2021.

Latin America ETFs Breeze Past S&P 500 YTD: Here's Why

ILF invests in the 40 largest Latin American stocks. The fund boasts a strong 6.7% yield and potential market-beating returns. Risks abound.

ILF: Latin America Equity Index ETF, Strong 6.7% Yield, Potential Market-Beating Returns

News for iShares Latin America 40 ETF ETF (ILF)