Is JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM) a Strong ETF Right Now?
A smart beta exchange traded fund, the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM) debuted on 01/07/2015, and offers broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by J.P. Morgan, and has been able to amass over $281.82 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the FTSE Emerging Diversified Factor Index before fees and expenses.
The FTSE Emerging Diversified Factor Index are selected from advanced and secondary emerging markets strictly in accordance with guidelines and mandated procedures and are selected from constituents of the FTSE Emerging Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for JPEM are 0.44%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.33%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
When you look at individual holdings, Naspers Ltd Common Stock (NPN) accounts for about 2.56% of the fund's total assets, followed by China Mobile Ltd Common and Taiwan Semiconductor.
The top 10 holdings account for about 14.24% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF has lost about -25.81% so far, and is down about -20.46% over the last 12 months (as of 06/05/2020). JPEM has traded between $36.19 and $58.24 in this past 52-week period.
The fund has a beta of 0.90 and standard deviation of 21.82% for the trailing three-year period, which makes JPEM a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 494 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Emerging Market ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $49.32 billion in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $56.02 billion. IEMG has an expense ratio of 0.13% and VWO charges 0.10%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Emerging Market ETFs.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM): ETF Research Reports
iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG): ETF Research Reports
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO): ETF Research Reports
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