Designed to provide broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market, the JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 01/07/2015.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
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.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
JPEM is managed by J.P. Morgan, and this fund has amassed over $282.81 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the FTSE Emerging Diversified Factor Index.
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
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.44%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.93%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Looking at individual holdings, Naspers Ltd Common Stock (NPN) accounts for about 2.22% of total assets, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor and China Mobile (NYSE:CHL) Ltd Common.
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 13.47% of JPEM's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF has lost about -13.38% so far, and is down about -9.62% over the last 12 months (as of 07/09/2020). 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 22.33% for the trailing three-year period, which makes JPEM a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 506 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 $53.03 billion in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $60.71 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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