It’s difficult enough to find value-tilted exchange-traded funds in the U.S. given the recent rally, but one option investors may want to consider is looking for opportunities abroad. Global value investors may find that other economies are presenting alternatives as opposed to the U.S. despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Really, no geography [and] no company has escaped the impact of Covid[-19],” said John Goetz, Portfolio Manager and co-CIO at Pzena Investment Management in New York, in an Advisor’s Edge article.
“Rather than thinking of it as particular countries being hurt, it’s particular industries which are being heavily impacted, and their stock prices have been really hammered,” he explained. “If you look around the world, the most common theme that we see [for] stocks that are heavily impacted would be anything consumer-related.”
As such, one fund to consider is the iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF (EFV ). EFV seeks to track the investment results of the MSCI EAFE Value Index composed of developed market equities, excluding the U.S. and Canada, that exhibit value characteristics.
As far as strategy goes, the fund generally invests at least 90% of its assets in securities of the underlying index and in depositary receipts representing securities of the underlying index. Furthermore, the underlying index is a subset of the MSCI EAFE Index. Constituents of the underlying index include securities from Europe, Australasia, and the Far East—with a net expense ratio of 0.38%, the fund gives investors a cost-effective means of getting exposure to value-oriented equities.
Another fund investors can take a look at is the Cambria Global Value ETF (GVAL ). The Cambria Global Value ETF seeks investment results that closely correspond to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Cambria Global Value Index. The Index consists of stocks with strong value characteristics. The Index begins with a universe of 45 countries located in developed and emerging markets.
Finally, another ETF play that’s worth a look involves sifting through the Nasdaq to find value via the Principal Contrarian Value Index ETF (PVAL ). PVAL seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before expenses, to the performance of the Nasdaq U.S. Contrarian Value Index.
Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of companies that compose the index at the time of purchase. The index uses a quantitative model designed to identify equity securities in the Nasdaq US Large Mid Cap Index that appear to be undervalued by the market relative to their fundamental value.
