EWW vs QAT

EWWAiShares MSCI Mexico ETF

QATDiShares MSCI Qatar ETF

In short

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.

QAT One ticker, one country. QAT tracks the MSCI All Qatar Capped Index with a tight basket of Qatari stocks, giving US investors direct access to a small Gulf market that barely registers inside a broad emerging markets fund.

Stated mandate

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

QAT The fund seeks to track an index composed of Qatar equities, providing targeted exposure to companies in Qatar and a way to express a single-country view.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• QAT Direct Qatar exposure in a plain US-listed wrapper: no local brokerage, no currency account, just an index fund tracking the MSCI All Qatar Capped Index.ishares.com
• Launched in 2014 and run by iShares, so this is a long-running fund with a decade-plus of live history rather than a recent launch chasing a theme.
• About 30 holdings means you can actually read the portfolio and see what you own, instead of Qatar arriving as an unlabeled sliver of a broad emerging markets index.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• QAT The 0.60% annual fee is typical for single-country emerging markets funds, but cheaper options exist in that group: Franklin's FLMX charges a fraction as much for its country exposure.
• Roughly 30 stocks in one small market is concentration by design. Individual names and sector moves drive results, and there is no diversification cushion underneath.
• It lands in the lower reaches of our single-country emerging markets group, weighed down mainly by cost and by how closely it delivers on its stated index mandate. Payouts come once or twice a year, not quarterly.

Full EWW profile⁠

Full QAT profile⁠