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Global / International  Exchange Traded Funds

InvestorsFriend's one-stop Global / International ETF reference Site provides:

  1. Selected Global / International Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and trading symbols (this includes emerging market ETFs)
  2. Fundamental data for each selected Global / International ETF (P/E ratio and dividend yield)
  3. Links to updated P/E ratio, dividend and other info for each Global / International ETF 
  4. Links to Yahoo Finance for each Global / International ETF for an updated price and news items
  5. Two U.S. corporate Bond Exchange Traded Funds are included
  6. The Management Expense Ratio (MER) of each selected International ETF.

This article provides a list of selected Global / International Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). It also provides the available fundaments (P/E ratio and dividend yield, and price to book value ratio) and the Management Expense Ratio (MER) of each ETF. The intention is to provide a broad list of ETFs covering major countries including emerging markets.  This list is not intended to cover various industry segments but rather to cover countries.

We provide the latest available P/E and dividend yields as of July 7, 2012. And we also provide links so that you can check the latest P/E, dividend yield, price to book ratio and the ETF prices. Therefore this Global / International Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) reference article can be used at any date, not just near the date it was last updated.

Note that in many cases we provide the P/E and other ratios from more than one source. Unfortunately they tend to differ by source which does call into question, which figure is more representative. The conservative approach is to assume the less attractive ratio is correct.

See also our analysis of Canadian ETFs and Market segments.

Further Information on interpreting our ETF table is provided below.

The Following ETFs Trade in the U.S. Most of these subject investors to currency risk between their country and the currency in the country of the index. Canadian investors should note that some of the distributions will be withheld as U.S. tax.

Be aware that the net asset value of the underlying entities can differ from the price of the ETF. This can be checked under the links to ishares.com in the first column below.

We don't claim to predict the future here. That is, we claim no particular knowledge of the economic outlook in all these various countries or areas or the political or the currency risks. Any comments here are simply based on the P/E ratio, yield and price to book ratio. (If a country ETF looks like a bargain we will say so) 

Note that Yahoo seems to consistently report lower trailing P/E ratios than ishares. We don't know why that is. Both appear to use some form of adjusted earnings (omitting unusual gains and losses). To be conservative it is best to assume the higher (less attractive) P/E is more correct. In fact both may be too low.

Be sure to click the links below for updated P/Es and yield's before you buy.

 

Global ETF

Click the links for ishares.com info.

 Trailing P/E

( appears to use normalized earnings)

 Dividend Yield %

(trailing 12 months)

Price to Book ratio (from ishares.com)  ETF  Comment
 Europe, Australia and Far East EFF

 

 

 

 

ishares 15.4

Yahoo says 10

 

 

3.46% on $49.96 at June 30, '12  2.12

 

 

 

 

 EFA  $49.44 (MER 0.35%)

Canadians can buy XIN  $16.00 on Toronto, hedged in Canadian dollars (MER  0.50%)

 Gives broad exposure to Europe, Australia and the Far East. A heavy weighting to Europe.

Appears neutral in attractiveness

 

 

 

 U.S. S&P 500 ETF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ishares 18.3

Yahoo 13

S&P GAPP 14.8

S&P Operating 13.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ishares 1.99% 

 S&P 2.29%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IVV    $135.95 (MER 0.09%)

 

Canadians can buy XSP $15.43 on Toronto, hedged in Canadian dollars (MER  0.25%)  May have different yield.

 

 2 times bull (MER 0.95%)
SSO   $54.01

2 times bear (MER 0.91%)
SDS   $15.76

1 times bear (MER 0.95%)
SH      $36.59

 500 of the largest U.S. companies. 

Focusing on the trailing GAAP P/E of 14.8 or the trailing operating P/E of 13.8, this seems only neutral in attractiveness

 ishares P/E seems too high for unknown reasons

 

 Double leverage funds cannot be expected to perform at double the underlying index except over a single day.

WARNING: Double leverage funds lose money if the market bumps up and down with no trend.

 Dow Jones Industrial Average Dow 14.1  Dow 2.75% 2.75  DIA   $127.57 (MER 0.18%)  Appears to be moderately  attractive
 Global 100 ETF ishares 13.8

Yahoo 10

 2.75%

 3.6  IOO  $58.16 (MER 0.40%) Note that this is almost 50% weighted to the United States 

Appears to be moderately attractive

 Europe 350 ETF ishares 14.6

Yahoo 10

2.98% ishares

3.78% Yahoo

 2.44 IEV $33.03 (MER 0.60%)  Appears to be only neutral in attractiveness. (Although the P/E indicated by Yahoo is quite attractive)
 China 25 Index ETF ishares 11.1

Yahoo 8

0.31% ishares

 2.8% Yahoo

1.52 FXI   $33.45 (MER 0.74%)  With only 25 companies it is dominated by a few companies and therefore is more volatile.

Seems quite attractive especially considering the  high growth in China.

 Japan ETF ishares 18

Yahoo 11

 

 3.24% ishares

2.1% Yahoo

1.15 EWJ   $9.34 (MER 0.54%)  The price to book is attractive at 1.15. The ishares P/E is unattractive but the P/E shown by Yahoo is attractive
 United Kingdom ETF ishares 13.7

Yahoo 10

 3.47% ishares

3.82% Yahoo

2.96  EWU $16.36 (MER 0.54%) Appears attractive
 Australia ETF ishares 14.4

Yahoo 12

 4.67% ishares

5.1% Yahoo

2.24  EWA   $21.89 (MER 0.51%)  Appears attractive
 Hong Kong ETF ishares 14.1

Yahoo 14

 2.68% ishares

3.35% Yahoo

2.60  EWH   $16.67 (MER 0.52%)  Appears attractive
 Brazil ETF ishares 14.1

Yahoo 11

3.85% ishares

2.85% Yahoo

3.35  EWZ   $52.17 (MER 0.68%) Appears attractive. 
 BRIC Countries ETF (China 40%, Brazil 30%, India 15%, Russia 14%) ishares 15.2

Yahoo 8

 1.97% ishares

2.61% Yahoo

 2.97  BKF   $35.75 (MER 0.75%)  Appears attractive, although the ishares P/E is not particularly attractive at 15
 Italy ETF ishares 10.5

Yahoo 8

 2.1% ishares

3.72% Yahoo

1.12  EWI   $10.56 (MER 0.54%)  Appears quite attractive
South Korea ETF ishares 13.0

Yahoo 9

0.63% ishares

0.68% Yahoo

1.71  EWY   $53.73 (MER 0.68%) Appears attractive
 20+ Year U.S. Treasury 2.63% yield to maturity ishares

2.91% Yahoo

 TLT    $127.06

(MER 0.15%)

 No Credit risk. (Very) long term investors could hold for the coupon although in that case you should directly buy a treasury bond, not the fund.

Appears unattractive due to the low yield on these long-term bonds

This ETF can be used to speculate on U.S. interest rates. It will fall in price if long-term interest rates rise and rise in price if interest rates fall.

 Ultra-short 7-10-year Treasury by ProShares  PST    $27.78

(MER 0.95%)

HTD (Toronto) $6.71

(MER 1.15%)

Use this to speculate that U.S. long-term Treasury bond interest rates will rise.

 Canadian Investors may prefer this one which trades on Toronto and is bought as a bet that U.S. long-term Treasury bond interest rates will rise. The currency risk is hedged away.

 

 U.S. Investment-Grade corporate Bond fund ETF Average Distribution Yield 4.07%

Average Yield to maturity 3.42%

LQD    $118.52 (MER 0.15%)

Appears unattractive

The weighted average maturity is just over 12 years. This fund will fall in price if long-term interest rates rise. Also it exposes investors to credit risk.

 U.S. high yield corporate bond fund ETF Distribution Yield 7.02%

Yield to maturity 6.63% (assumes no defaults)

HYG   $91.09 (MER 0.50%) Possibly attractive but consider interest rate and credit risk

The weighted average maturity is about 5 years. This fund will fall in price if mid-term interest rates rise. Also it exposes investors to considerable credit risk. The full yield to maturity will not likely be realized due to some of the bonds defaulting.

The above table is an excellent reference investors interesting in gaining global and emerging market stock and bond exposure through ETFs. You can bookmark this page or join our free newsletter list to be notified of updates.

Additional Emerging Market Countries

India INDA

Malaysia EWM

Chile ECH

Indonesia EIDO

Mexico EWW

Peru EPU

Philippines EPHE

Taiwan EWT

Thailand THD

Turkey TUR

Russia ERUS (had low P/E at 7 but is likely high risk)

For many more international Exchange Traded Funds and countries see www.ishares.com and www.proshares.com

With this P/E ratio and yield information, investors can make a better judgment as to the desirability of various Country ETFs and we also provide the trading symbol under which each can be purchased. (Or sold short for that matter).

While it can be very difficult to interpret whether a particular P/E ratio is attractive or not, it is useful to be aware of these ratios.   In most cases the P/E ratios may not be the raw trailing P/Es but may be massaged to remove extraordinary items. ishares indicates they exclude negatives and exclude extraordinary items and  and also cap indivual P/Es at 60. It's not clear what adjustments Yahoo makes.

Keep in mind that P/E ratios and yields are based on the earnings and dividend information available at a point in time. Ratios are always subject to change as financial results change and as the ETF prices change.

If you click through to see the latest P/E and yields for these global / international ETFs note that many of them are not updated daily but are based on a previous month end. In that case the reported ratios need to be adjusted to reflect the latest ETF price. Click on the price of the ETF to go to Yahoo and see the latest price, you can then click on historical prices on Yahoo to see the price on the month-end that the P/E was last updated. Then, for example, if the international ETF price is up 10% then the P/E would be up 10% and the yield down 10%.

In buying or selling any of these Global / International ETFs be cautious about the trading volume and the bid/ask spread. Higher volume ETFs are preferred, all else being equal.

In buying any of these, be careful to double check the trading symbol with other sources. I believe the symbols below are correct, but please double check. A wrong symbol could lead to to the wrong investment.

Investors may wish to consider the expected growth or contraction of the earnings that are driving the P/E for a particular country. High growth can justify a high P/E and low or negative growth leads to lower P/E ratios. 

Note that the price charts of Global / International ETFs that trade in the U. S. are in effect distorted by currency movements. The graph typically does not show just the movement of the country index, but rather the country index in U.S. dollars.

END

Shawn Allen, CFA, CMA, MBA, P.Eng.

President, InvestorsFriend Inc.

July 7, 2012

 

 

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