EWJV vs ICOW

EWJVBiShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

ICOWCPacer Developed Markets International Cash Cows 100 ETF

In short

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.

ICOW Cash flow is the yardstick here, not book value. ICOW screens the FTSE Developed ex-US index and holds the 100 companies with the highest free-cash-flow yield: international value measured by money that actually landed.

Stated mandate

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

ICOW The fund seeks capital appreciation through a rules-based screen of the FTSE Developed ex-US Index that selects 100 international companies based on free-cash-flow yield.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• ICOW One rule, no drift: rank developed ex-US companies on free-cash-flow yield, keep the top 100. The screen is mechanical, so no manager talks themselves into a story stock.paceretfs.com
• Cash generation is harder to dress up than a low price-to-book, so the portfolio leans value and quality from the same screen.
• Running since 2017, now a multi-billion-dollar fund with moderate trading volume that distributes quarterly.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• ICOW At 0.65% a year it costs roughly double the international-value median, and cheaper broad options sit in the same aisle (DFIV 0.27%, EFV 0.31%).
• About 110 holdings, so single names and sectors carry more weight than in a broad international value index.
• Against its international-value peers it lands in the lower half overall, with fee and portfolio breadth doing most of the work.

Full EWJV profile⁠

Full ICOW profile⁠