IShares MSCI Japan ETF accurately represents the Japanese market, but it faces some challenges. We have downgraded its Process Pillar to Average from Above Average because it does not capture the small-cap segment of the market. Many of the fund’s Morningstar Category peers have managed to carve out an advantage investing in this corner of the Japanese market--which is out-of-bounds for this large-cap-focused index tracker. However, we believe that its fee is still low enough to provide a long-term advantage, so we are upgrading its Morningstar Analyst Rating to Bronze from Neutral.
iShares MSCI Japan ETF EWJ
Morningstar’s Analysis
The Morningstar Analysis section contains a thorough evaluation of an investment’s merits and drawbacks and often discusses the most important or decisive factors leading to the fund’s overall rating.
The Morningstar Analysis section contains a thorough evaluation of an investment’s merits and drawbacks and often discusses the most important or decisive factors leading to the fund’s overall rating.
Will EWJ outperform in future?
Get our overall rating based on a fundamental assessment of the pillars below.
Process Pillar
The Process Pillar is our assessment of how sensible, clearly defined, and repeatable EWJ’s performance objective and investment process is for both security selection and portfolio construction.
People Pillar
The People Pillar is our evaluation of the EWJ management team’s experience and ability. We find that high-quality management teams deliver superior performance relative to their benchmarks and/or peers.
Parent Pillar
The Parent Pillar is our rating of EWJ’s parent organization’s priorities and whether they’re in line with investors’ interests.
A good strategy that doesn’t capture the full opportunity set.
