EWJV vs IVAL

EWJVBiShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

IVALDAlpha Architect International Quantitative Value 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.

IVAL Most international value ETFs spread a mild tilt across hundreds of names. IVAL goes the other way: about 50 stocks, screened for value by Alpha Architect's own index, running since 2014.

Stated mandate

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

IVAL The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the Alpha Architect International Quantitative Value Index.

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.

• IVAL Concentrated by design. Holding roughly 50 names means the value screen actually shapes the portfolio instead of being watered down across hundreds of positions.
• One rulebook, one shop. Alpha Architect wrote the index it tracks, so the value methodology and the fund come from the same source rather than a licensed third-party screen.
• Launched in December 2014, so this is a live decade-plus record of the strategy in international markets, not a backtest.
• Pays distributions quarterly, the standard cadence for equity funds in this corner of the market.

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.

• IVAL The 0.38% fee sits above the typical international value fund, and cheaper options cover overlapping ground: FIVA at 0.18%, DFIV at 0.27%, EFV at 0.31%.
• Thinly traded compared with the big names in its category, so the bid-ask spread is a real part of the cost, particularly on larger orders.
• Concentration cuts both ways. With about 50 holdings, individual stocks and country exposures move results far more than they would in a broad index fund.

Full EWJV profile⁠

Full IVAL profile⁠