EPHE vs EWW

EPHECiShares MSCI Philippines ETF

EWWAiShares MSCI Mexico ETF

In short

EPHE A single-ticker route into the Philippine stock market: roughly 30 large, mid and small caps from an MSCI index, in an iShares wrapper that has traded since 2010. Narrow by design, so the country's biggest listed names set the tone.

EWW Mexico in one ticker, doing that job since 1996. Roughly 40 of the country's biggest listed names, capped so no single company runs the show, for 0.50% a year.

Stated mandate

EPHE The fund seeks to track an index composed of Philippine equities.

EWW The fund seeks to track an index composed of Mexican equities and provides targeted exposure to companies in Mexico.

Why people hold it

• EPHE Straight Philippines exposure in one US-listed fund, tracking the MSCI Philippines IMI 25/50 Index, which reaches past the mega caps into mid and small caps.ishares.com
• Fee sits at 0.59%, dead center for single-country emerging-market funds and the same sticker as EPOL and EZA.
• The 25/50 capping rules built into its index limit how much weight any one issuer can carry, a real constraint in a market this small.
• iShares has run it since 2010 on a plain index mandate: no manager stock picks, no strategy drift.ishares.com

• EWW 0.50% a year, below the typical single-country emerging-market fund. Cheap is not the pitch here, but you are not paying a premium for the exposure.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund that trades actively, which is why it has long been the default way US investors get Mexico exposure in a brokerage account.
• The 25/50 index rules keep any one issuer from swallowing the portfolio, a real safeguard in a market where a handful of giants dominate the exchange.ishares.com
• Tracks its MSCI Mexico index tightly and ranks among the strongest builds in the single-country emerging-market group.

Worth knowing

• EPHE About 30 stocks in the whole basket, so a handful of Philippine heavyweights drive most of the movement, up or down.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized, and US hours never overlap Manila's, so the share price can drift from the value of the stocks inside.
• One country, one currency: peso moves land in your dollar return, and the index counts dividends after foreign withholding tax. Payouts come once or twice a year, not monthly.

• EWW About 40 stocks, one country, one currency. Peso moves and Mexican politics land straight in the return, with no diversification to soften them.
• FLMX tracks Mexico for 0.19%. If cost is the deciding factor, that gap is the trade-off against EWW's deeper trading and longer track record.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly. This is an equity exposure vehicle, not a steady income line.

Full EPHE profile⁠

Full EWW profile⁠