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Is WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (EPI) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 02/22/2008, smart beta exchange traded fund WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (EPI - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.

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 Wisdomtree, and has been able to amass over $762.89 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree India Earnings Index.

The WisdomTree India Earnings Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of companies incorporated and traded in India that are profitable and that are eligible to be purchased by foreign investors as of the index measurement date. Weighted Index based on their earnings in their fiscal year prior to the Index measurement date adjusted for foreign investors.

Cost & Other Expenses

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.84% for this ETF, which makes it one of the most expensive products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 5.86%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Taking into account individual holdings, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) accounts for about 7.65% of the fund's total assets, followed by Tata Steel Ltd (TATA) and Infosys Ltd .

The top 10 holdings account for about 38.66% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the WisdomTree India Earnings ETF has added roughly 2.67% so far, and is down about -6.91% over the last 12 months (as of 01/19/2023). EPI has traded between $29.42 and $37.79 in this past 52-week period.

The fund has a beta of 0.73 and standard deviation of 27.30% for the trailing three-year period, which makes EPI a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 418 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

WisdomTree India Earnings ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares India 50 ETF (INDY - Free Report) tracks Nifty 50 Index and the iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA - Free Report) tracks MSCI India Total Return Index. IShares India 50 ETF has $596.80 million in assets, iShares MSCI India ETF has $4.79 billion. INDY has an expense ratio of 0.89% and INDA charges 0.65%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) 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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