A smart beta exchange traded fund, the JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM) debuted on 01/07/2015, and offers broad exposure to the Broad Emerging Market ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

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 J.P. Morgan. JPEM has been able to amass assets over $324.63 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Emerging Market ETFs. Before fees and expenses, JPEM seeks to match the performance of the FTSE Emerging Diversified Factor Index.

The JP Morgan Diversified Factor Emerging Markets Equity Index reflects the performance of emerging market securities representing a diversified set of factor characteristics which include Value, Price, Momentum, Earnings, Revisions and Quality characteristics.

Cost & Other Expenses

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.44%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.41%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, Taiwan Semiconductor accounts for about 1.58% of total assets, followed by Infosys Ltd Common Stock (INFY_D.) and Vale Sa Common Stock Brl (VALE3).

JPEM's top 10 holdings account for about 10.87% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 6.57% so far this year and it's up approximately 17.30% in the last one year (as of 10/31/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $48.51 and $57.84.

The fund has a beta of 0.70 and standard deviation of 13.57% for the trailing three-year period, which makes JPEM a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 571 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity 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 $82.45 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has $82.68 billion. VWO has an expense ratio of 0.08% and IEMG charges 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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JPMorgan Diversified Return Emerging Markets Equity ETF (JPEM): ETF Research Reports

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG): ETF Research Reports

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO): ETF Research Reports

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