EFV vs EWJV

EFVAiShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF

EWJVBiShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

In short

EFV Running since 2005, EFV is the big, heavily traded way to own the value half of developed markets outside North America: roughly 400 stocks tracking the MSCI EAFE Value Index for 0.31% a year.

EWJV Most international value funds spread the bet across the whole developed world. EWJV skips the buffet and orders one dish: cheap-looking large- and mid-cap Japanese stocks, roughly 110 of them, for 0.15% a year.

Stated mandate

EFV The fund seeks to track an index of developed-market equities outside the United States and Canada that exhibit value characteristics.

EWJV The fund seeks to track large- and mid-capitalization Japanese equities with value characteristics and relatively lower valuations.

Why people hold it

• EFV 0.31% a year, below the typical fee among international-value funds, for a mandate that has been running since 2005.
• Tracks the MSCI EAFE Value Index closely and trades actively as a multi-billion-dollar fund, which keeps the cost of getting in and out low.
• About 400 developed-market value stocks in one ticker, picked by index rule rather than a manager's judgment.
• Sits among the strongest implementations in its international-value peer group, next to Dimensional's DFIV.

• EWJV At 0.15% a year, it is the cheapest fund in its international-value peer group, well under the group's typical fee and below broad rivals like DFIV and EFV.
• A clean single-country expression: the MSCI Japan Value Index screens large- and mid-cap Japanese equities for value characteristics and lower valuations, so the country call and the style call arrive together.ishares.com
• Plain index plumbing from iShares, running since 2019, and it has stayed close to the benchmark it advertises.
• One of the stronger builds in its cohort on cost and mandate discipline, sitting in the upper half of the international-value field.

Worth knowing

• EFV By design it holds only the cheap side of the EAFE universe, so its sector mix and results can look very different from a broad international index.
• Developed markets only: no US, no Canada, no emerging markets. It's a slice of international, not the whole thing.
• Not the cheapest seat in the room: FIVA runs 0.18% for its own version of international value.

• EWJV One country, one style, roughly 110 names. Nothing in the portfolio cushions a stretch when Japan or value is out of fashion.
• Moderately traded, not a volume machine. Limit orders earn their keep on larger tickets.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year rather than quarterly, so income lands in lumps.

Full EFV profile⁠

Full EWJV profile⁠