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Is FlexShares Morningstar Emerging Markets Factor Tilt ETF (TLTE) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The FlexShares Morningstar Emerging Markets Factor Tilt ETF (TLTE - Free Report) was launched on 09/25/2012, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market 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.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of 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

Managed by Flexshares, TLTE has amassed assets over $276.46 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. TLTE seeks to match the performance of the Morningstar Emerging Markets Factor Tilt Index before fees and expenses.

The Morningstar Emerging Markets Factor Tilt Index reflects the performance of a selection of equity securities designed to provide broad exposure to the global emerging equities markets, with increased exposure to small-capitalization stocks and value stocks.

Cost & Other Expenses

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.57%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.36%.

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, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd Commonaccounts for about 4.47% of the fund's total assets, followed by Msci Emgmkt Equity Index 19/sep/2025 Mesu5 Index (MESU5) and Tencent Holdings Ltd Common Stock Hkd 0.00002.

The top 10 holdings account for about 16.11% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 18.32% so far this year and it's up approximately 17.45% in the last one year (as of 07/25/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $46.89 and $60.69

The fund has a beta of 0.64 and standard deviation of 15.55% for the trailing three-year period, which makes TLTE a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 3048 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

FlexShares Morningstar Emerging Markets Factor Tilt 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.

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) tracks FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index and the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index. Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF has $94.45 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $100.69 billion. VWO has an expense ratio of 0.07% and IEMG changes 0.09%.

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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