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Is iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor ETF (EMGF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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Launched on 12/08/2015, the iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor ETF (EMGF - 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?
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.
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.
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 Blackrock, and has been able to amass over $1.79 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Diversified Multiple-Factor Index.
The STOXX Emerging Markets Equity Factor Index (USD) composes of stocks of large and mid-capitalization companies in emerging markets that have favourable exposure to target style factors subject to constraints.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.26%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.20%.
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.
When you look at individual holdings, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturingaccounts for about 10.22% of the fund's total assets, followed by Samsung Electronics Ltd and Sk Hynix.
EMGF's top 10 holdings account for about 31.91% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, EMGF has added roughly 14.23%, and it's up approximately 13.3% in the last one year (as of 11/04/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $55.64 and $76.28.
The ETF has a beta of 0.75 and standard deviation of 19.31% for the trailing three-year period. With about 742 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor 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 Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund ETF Shares (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 Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund ETF Shares has $116.99 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $145.97 billion. VWO has an expense ratio of 0.06% 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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Is iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor ETF (EMGF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Launched on 12/08/2015, the iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor ETF (EMGF - 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?
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.
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.
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 Blackrock, and has been able to amass over $1.79 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Diversified Multiple-Factor Index.
The STOXX Emerging Markets Equity Factor Index (USD) composes of stocks of large and mid-capitalization companies in emerging markets that have favourable exposure to target style factors subject to constraints.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.26%.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.20%.
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.
When you look at individual holdings, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturingaccounts for about 10.22% of the fund's total assets, followed by Samsung Electronics Ltd and Sk Hynix.
EMGF's top 10 holdings account for about 31.91% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, EMGF has added roughly 14.23%, and it's up approximately 13.3% in the last one year (as of 11/04/2026). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $55.64 and $76.28.
The ETF has a beta of 0.75 and standard deviation of 19.31% for the trailing three-year period. With about 742 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
iShares Emerging Markets Equity Factor 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 Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund ETF Shares (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 Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund ETF Shares has $116.99 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $145.97 billion. VWO has an expense ratio of 0.06% 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.