The late, great comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to complain
about a lack of respect. There are plenty of ETFs on the market
today that face the same plight. With a constituency that is
rapidly approaching 1,500 combined ETFs and ETNs, the
exchange-traded products industry is bound to have a few products
that get no respect.
With the proliferation of ETFs and ETNs has come the
proliferation of
superficial evaluation tools that shift
investors' attention away from performance and onto cosmetic
traits
. The result? Plenty of Rodney Dangerfield ETFs exist today,
particularly among funds tracking global markets or sector plays
with international exposure.
Just as membership at Bushwood Country Club is no laughing
matter, neither is the fact that some global funds can't seem to
muster up much respect despite the promise they've shown in
recent months. Here are a few to consider buying on a potential
broader market dip.
iShares MSCI Chile Investable Index Fund (NYSE:
ECH
)
The iShares MSCI Chile Investable Index Fund is neither small,
nor ignored. Home to almost $709 million in assets under
management the ETF is the lone fund devoted tracking the world's
largest copper-producing nation. That might be why ECH has
struggled for respect in recent weeks. Investors have become
skittish about China's demand for the red metal and that's
arguably the primary reason why ECH has lost almost 3% in the
past month.
ECH
has held up well compared to comparable Brazil
funds
and Chile's central bank said the country's economy expanded at a
5.2% clip in March. Not only did that beat expectations, Chile
showed an April trade surplus of $1.05 billion compared to the
surplus of $650 million
economists polled by Bloomberg expected
.
WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt ETF (NYSE:
ELD
)
It has been noted many times since birth of actively managed ETFs
that this sub-sector of the ETF world has
struggled to gain traction with investors
. As of mid-April, actively managed ETFs had just $5.8 billion in
AUM, according to S&P Capital IQ data, but the WisdomTree
Emerging Markets Local Debt ETF is one of the dominant actively
managed funds with almost $1.3 billion in AUM.
It has been said that the PIMCO Total Return ETF (NYSE:
BOND
) is a game-changer among actively managed ETFs. Given that BOND
is basically the "Bill Gross ETF," it's hard to argue, but a
legitimate case can be made for ELD being the original
game-changer for actively managed ETFs. Up almost 8%
year-to-date, ELD tracks bonds issued by Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Mexico, Peru, Poland, Turkey, South Africa, Russia, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, China, and South Korea.
iShares S&P Global Energy Sector Index Fund (NYSE:
IXC
)
Like the Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:
XLE
), IXC does feature heavy allocations to Exxon Mobil (NYSE:
XOM
) and Chevron (NYSE:
CVX
), but the iShares offering also does an admirable job of mixing
solid exposure to the European oil majors such as Royal Dutch
Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) and BP (NYSE:
BP
).
IXC and XLE share a fairly intimate correlation and it should
be noted that IXC's chart is weak after the ETF violated support
at $38. Patient buyers can wait for better prices over the coming
weeks.
IndexIQ Global Agribusiness Small Cap ETF (NYSE:
CROP
)
CROP, which is almost 14 months old, has a tendency to fly under
the radar because many traders and investors still think the only
ETF avenue for agribusiness stocks is the Market Vectors
Agribusiness ETF (NYSE:
MOO
).
There several important things about CROP and MOO to note.
First, nearly every fund that has
challenged MOO has failed
. Second, CROP is not a rival, but rather a complement to MOO.
Third, there has been little difference in the returns offered by
the two funds this year. Finally, CROP is arguably the better
play should agribusiness mergers and acquisitions activity
increase later this year.
For more on undiscovered global ETF gems, please click
HERE
.
(c) 2012 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment
advice. All rights reserved.