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Is JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Launched on 01/07/2015, the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market.

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.

Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by J.P. Morgan. JPEM has been able to amass assets over $340.63 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. JPEM, 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

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics 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 3.89%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.

Taking into account individual holdings, Naspers Ltd Common Stock (NPN) accounts for about 2.07% of the fund's total assets, followed by China Mobile Ltd Common and Lukoil Pjsc Common Stock (LKOH).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 13.93% of JPEM's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF has lost about -10.79% so far, and is down about -2.15% over the last 12 months (as of 03/04/2020). JPEM has traded between $50.11 and $58.24 in this past 52-week period.

JPEM has a beta of 0.80 and standard deviation of 14.76% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 513 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 - Free Report) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO - Free Report) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index. IShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $56.34 B in assets, Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $61.99 B. IEMG has an expense ratio of 0.14% and VWO charges 0.12%.

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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