JIRE vs PGRI

JIREAJPMorgan International Research Enhanced Equity ETF

PGRIDPutnam International Stock ETF

In short

JIRE EAFE core with a stock-picker's fingerprints. JIRE holds sector and geographic risk close to the MSCI EAFE Index and expresses J.P. Morgan's global analyst calls as small over- and underweights, for 0.29% a year, below the typical active international fee.

PGRI A Putnam stock-picking team turned loose on the world outside the US: large and midsize companies across developed and emerging markets, wrapped in an ETF that opened for business in late 2025 at 0.55% a year.

Stated mandate

JIRE JIRE seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in foreign developed-market companies. It uses global fundamental research and seeks to outperform the MSCI EAFE Index while maintaining similar sector and geographic risk characteristics.

PGRI The Fund seeks capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of large and midsize companies outside the United States, including issuers in developed and emerging markets.

Why people hold it

• JIRE Index-like by design: sector and geographic risk stay close to MSCI EAFE, so stock-level tilts from J.P. Morgan's worldwide research bench do the work.jpmorgan.com
• 0.29% a year, below the median fee in its active international category, and no waiver is propping that up, so there is no expiry date to watch.
• Risk spread wide: roughly 200 stocks across developed markets outside North America, inside a multi-billion-dollar fund.
• Rates as one of the stronger implementations in the active international equity group.

• PGRI A wide passport rather than a narrow sleeve: large and midsize companies outside the US, with both developed and emerging markets in bounds, so the managers can move toward where they see the ideas.
• At 0.55% a year, it comes in under the typical actively managed international fund in its peer group. Active stock picking without the top-shelf active price tag.
• Putnam's international equity mandate inside Franklin Templeton's ETF lineup, run as a plain 1940 Act fund rather than a derivative-driven or commodity-trust structure.

Worth knowing

• JIRE Hugging the benchmark cuts both ways: differences from EAFE come in small slices from stock selection, not bold sector or country bets.
• Cheaper shelf-mates exist: DFIC at 0.22% and AVDE at 0.23%, plus TACN at 0.20% gross but 0% net of a waiver through January 30, 2027.
• Developed-market holdings are priced in foreign currencies, so moves in the dollar ride along with the stock results.jpmorgan.com

• PGRI It launched in October 2025, so there is no long record to lean on, and because the mandate is active there is no declared index to measure it against day to day.
• Index-driven neighbors in the same aisle, such as AVDE and DFIC, charge closer to 0.2%. The gap is the toll for having a human make the calls.
• Still a small, thinly traded fund, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads than the category giants, and payouts land once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full JIRE profile⁠

Full PGRI profile⁠