INTF vs PIEL

INTFAiShares International Equity Factor ETF

PIELFPacer International Export Leaders ETF

In short

INTF Five factors at once (value, quality, momentum, low volatility, low size) aimed at developed markets outside the US, for 0.16% a year. That is well under half what the typical international multifactor fund charges.

PIEL Most international funds hand you companies that mostly sell at home. PIEL screens developed markets outside the US for the opposite: large and mid caps with heavy foreign sales and high free cash flow margins, then keeps the top 100.

Stated mandate

INTF The fund seeks to track an index of international developed-market stocks chosen using value, quality, momentum, low-volatility, and low-size factors.

PIEL The fund seeks global market growth by screening the FTSE Developed ex US Index for the top 100 large- and mid-capitalization companies with high foreign sales and high free-cash-flow margins.

Why people hold it

• INTF At 0.16% a year it undercuts the peer median of 0.38%, and also GSIE (0.25%), RODM (0.29%) and FDEV (0.18%).
• One basket of roughly 500 developed-market stocks does the work of separate value, quality, momentum, low-volatility and small-size sleeves.
• Live since 2015 and now a multi-billion-dollar iShares fund, giving it more history than much of the international multifactor shelf.
• Rates among the strongest implementations in its international multifactor peer group of 29 funds.

• PIEL Two-step screen with a clear logic: filter the FTSE Developed ex US Index for high foreign sales, then keep the 100 highest free cash flow margins, weighted by market cap with a 5% cap per name.sec.govpaceretfs.com
• Not a lab experiment. It is the overseas build of the export-leaders template Pacer has run on US stocks since 2018, pointed at non-US exporters instead.paceretfs.comstockanalysis.com
• The cash-flow step does real work: ranking on free cash flow margin tilts the basket toward companies converting sales into cash, which the broad developed ex-US index does not screen for.paceretfs.com
• Rules-based and transparent: roughly 100 stocks, a published index, and a 5% cap that stops one giant exporter from running the portfolio.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• INTF Factor tilts are the whole point, so returns can wander from a plain cap-weighted international index in either direction, sometimes for long stretches.
• Developed markets only. No emerging-market exposure here, and returns move with foreign currencies as well as foreign stocks.
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy, so limit orders help. Distributions land once or twice a year, not quarterly.

• PIEL The screen costs you: 0.49% sits above the typical international multifactor fund, and well above plain factor peers like GSWO (0.15%) and INTF (0.16%).
• It listed in December 2025 and is still a small fund, so trading is thinner than at the category's heavyweights and bid-ask spreads can run wider.
• Short history means there is no record yet of how an exporter-and-cash-flow screen behaves through a full cycle in currencies, trade policy, or a global slowdown.

Full INTF profile⁠

Full PIEL profile⁠