ACWV vs PATN

ACWVBiShares MSCI Global Min Vol Factor ETF

PATNFPacer Nasdaq International Patent Leaders ETF

In short

ACWV Global min vol in one ticker: an optimizer sifts the MSCI ACWI universe, developed and emerging, for the lowest-risk mix of roughly 400 stocks. Same playbook since 2011, at 0.20% a year.

PATN Most international funds sort companies by size, value or momentum. PATN sorts by patents, tracking a Nasdaq index that ranks large and mid cap non-US firms on what their patent portfolios are worth and holds the top 100.

Stated mandate

ACWV The fund seeks to track an index of developed and emerging market equities that collectively exhibit lower volatility than the broader developed and emerging equity markets.

PATN The fund seeks international growth by tracking the 100 highest-ranked companies by patent valuation from a universe of large- and mid-cap non-U.S. companies.

Why people hold it

• ACWV 0.20% a year for a globally optimized factor build, well under the 0.41% median for international factor ETFs.
• Not a simple low-vol screen. The index optimizes the MSCI ACWI for the lowest absolute risk within a set of constraints, so how stocks move together shapes the weights.msci.com
• One ticker for the whole map. The developed-only sibling EFAV charges the same 0.20%; ACWV folds emerging markets into the same wrapper.
• Running since 2011 with billions in assets, it sits among the stronger implementations in its international factor peer group.

• PATN The selection rule is genuinely unusual: a Nasdaq index scores non-US large and mid caps on patent valuation and keeps the top 100, so the portfolio is built around intellectual property rather than price or market cap.paceretfs.com
• Rules-based and spread wide: roughly 100 developed-market names outside the US, chosen and refreshed by index rule instead of a manager's judgment call.
• An R&D tilt without the usual US tech concentration: the whole universe is non-US, so it reaches the innovators that most American-listed innovation funds skip. Distributions are paid quarterly.

Worth knowing

• ACWV Minimum volatility is the aim, not a floor. iShares states the fund may experience more than minimum volatility, with no guarantee the index strategy lowers it.ishares.com
• Emerging markets ride along inside this defensive build, bringing the political and economic swings iShares flags as heightened in those markets.ishares.com
• By design it leans away from the cap-weighted world index, so its country and sector mix can look quite different and its path can diverge in either direction.msci.com

• PATN You pay up for the idea. The 0.65% expense ratio sits meaningfully above what a typical international factor fund charges, and that gap compounds against you every year you hold it.
• It launched in 2024, so there is not yet a long record showing how a patent-value screen behaves through a full market cycle or a growth-stock drawdown.
• Cheaper, longer-established international factor funds (EFAV at 0.20%, IDMO at 0.25%) currently sit well ahead of it in our peer group review.

Full ACWV profile⁠

Full PATN profile⁠