Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index A History of Outperformance (Part 2/2)

Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index A History of Outperformance (Part 2/2)  is part two of a two-part series that examines the Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexTM. The previous post described how the index is constructed.

Outperformance

The Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index (MWMFTR or “U.S. Moat Index”) is designed to capture the performance of U.S. companies with a Morningstar Economic Moat Ranking of Wide that are trading at an attractive price. The strategy of combining quality and value has resulted in an index track record of generating significant excess returns relative to the overall U.S. equity market. With an appreciation of 203.66 percent since inception in February 2007, the U.S. Moat Index has outpaced the S&P 500 Index by a total of 95.24 percentage points. Looking at the annualized performance, the Morningstar index has outperformed the broader U.S. market by roughly four percentage points. (Data as of 31.05.2017).

This longer-term trend is also reflected in the more recent performance: Moat-companies in the US equity market have profited stronger from the Rally that started in the beginning of this year than the broader market. While the year-to-date-performance of the S&P is at 8.66 percent, the U.S. Moat Index posted returns of 10.68 percent (Data as of 31.05.2017).

Batting Average

Measured against the S&P 500 Index, the U.S. Moat Index also features an impressive batting average, particularly over long-term holding periods. Batting average is a sports metaphor that is used in finance to describe the level of relative success for an investment strategy. Specifically, it indicates how often an investment strategy has outperformed a benchmark through various periods over time. The batting average is measured by dividing the number of periods a portfolio or investment strategy outperforms a benchmark by the total number of periods. On a six-month rolling period, the performance of the MWMFTR outperformed the S&P 500 in 59 percent of all cases. For three years rolling period, this figure is as high as 78 percent (Data as of 31.05.2017).

Important Disclosures

This commentary is not intended as a recommendation to buy or to sell any of the named securities. Holdings will vary for the MOAT ETF and their corresponding Indices.

Index performance is not representative of fund performance. To view fund performance current to the most recent month end, visit vaneck.com.

An investor cannot invest directly in an index. Returns reflect past performance and do not guarantee future results. Results reflect the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, if any. Index returns do not represent Fund returns. The Index does not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, nor does the Index lend securities, and no revenues from securities lending were added to the performance shown.

Fair value estimate: the Morningstar analyst’s estimate of what a stock is worth.

Price/Fair Value: ratio of a stock’s trading price to its fair value estimate.

The Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexSM was created and are maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell, or promote the VanEck Vectors® Morningstar Wide Moat UCITS ETF and bears no liability with respect to the ETF or any security. Morningstar® is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index is a service marks of Morningstar, Inc.

The Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index consists of U.S. companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages and whose stocks are attractively priced, according to Morningstar.

The S&P 500® Index consists of 500 widely held common stocks covering the leading industries of the U.S. economy.

Effective June 20, 2016, Morningstar implemented several changes to the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index construction rules. Among other changes, the index increased its constituent count from 20 stocks to at least 40 stocks and modified its rebalance and reconstitution methodology. These changes may result in more diversified exposure, lower turnover, and longer holding periods for index constituents than under the rules in effect prior to this date. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index Index Construction (Part 1/2)

Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index Index Construction (Part 1/2)

Long-term outperformance defines the track record of Morningstar’s success in identifying quality moat companies that are also trading at attractive valuations.

The Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexTM has outperformed the broader U.S. market since its inception in 2007. What is behind the index concept that has achieved such a track record?

This is part one of a two-part series that examines the Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexTM

The Quality and Value of Stocks

Moat Investing is a popular investment strategy based on analysing the quality and value of stocks. Central to the strategy are companies with sustainable competitive advantages – so called Economic Moats. Identifying promising moat companies takes extensive, continuous research and complex financial knowledge. Independent investment research company Morningstar has developed an index that combines their extensive moat analysis and fair value research. The Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index (MWMFTR or “U.S. Moat Index”) consists of stocks that received a Wide Moat Rating by Morningstar and are trading below fair value – in other words, stocks that are positioned to deliver long-term above-average returns. Serving as underlying for an exchange-traded fund, the index offers an attractive, simple way to invest in quality U.S. companies.

Identifying Wide Economic Moats

The index universe of the MWMFTR is based on the stock universe of the Morningstar US Market Index, which consists of around 1.500 U.S. stocks. From this pool, which equals 97 percent of the total US equity market capitalization, Morningstar determines all companies with a wide Economic Moat: Companies with competitive advantages that are likely to be maintained for 20 years or more. Approximately 140 companies receive a corresponding Morningstar® Economic Moat Rating of Wide. Stocks are screened for five sources of moat. Often, a company possesses more than one source of moat. The most common ones among U.S. companies are: Intangible Assets (74 percent of U.S. stocks with a wide Morningstar® Economic Moat Rating), Cost Advantages (49 percent) and Switching Costs (35 percent). Network effects (18 percent) and an Efficient Scale (11 percent) are less common (Data as of: 30.04.2017 )

Ranking by Valuation

In the second step, Morningstar ranks these 140 identified wide moat companies on the U.S. equity market by valuation. Only attractively rated stocks are considered as potential index components for the U.S. Moat Index. Therefore, Morningstar’s analysts determine a fair value estimate of each company identified as Wide Moat. The focus of the analysis is on evaluating the future potential profitability and assessing the certainty of future cash flows. The estimated fair price is used to represent the intrinsic value of the stock and is directly compared to its market price. The determined fair value estimate might differ sharply from the current market price of a stock, particularly short-term. Over time, this difference tends to even out, turning undervalued stocks into an attractive investment long-term. Stocks whose market price is above the fair value tend to have little prospects of further price gains.

As a result, the index portfolio contains a minimum of 40 up to 80 stocks with a Morningstar Economic Moat Rating of wide. These components are split up into two equally-weighted sub-portfolios, which are both reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually on alternating quarters. Weights will vary with market prices until the next reconstitution date.

Important Disclosures

This commentary is not intended as a recommendation to buy or to sell any of the named securities. Holdings will vary for the MOAT ETF and their corresponding Indices.

Index performance is not representative of fund performance. To view fund performance current to the most recent month end, visit vaneck.com.

An investor cannot invest directly in an index. Returns reflect past performance and do not guarantee future results. Results reflect the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, if any. Index returns do not represent Fund returns. The Index does not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, nor does the Index lend securities, and no revenues from securities lending were added to the performance shown.

Fair value estimate: the Morningstar analyst’s estimate of what a stock is worth.

Price/Fair Value: ratio of a stock’s trading price to its fair value estimate.

The Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexSM was created and are maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell, or promote the VanEck Vectors® Morningstar Wide Moat UCITS ETF and bears no liability with respect to the ETF or any security. Morningstar® is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index is a service marks of Morningstar, Inc.

The Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index consists of U.S. companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages and whose stocks are attractively priced, according to Morningstar.

The S&P 500® Index consists of 500 widely held common stocks covering the leading industries of the U.S. economy.

Effective June 20, 2016, Morningstar implemented several changes to the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index construction rules. Among other changes, the index increased its constituent count from 20 stocks to at least 40 stocks and modified its rebalance and reconstitution methodology. These changes may result in more diversified exposure, lower turnover, and longer holding periods for index constituents than under the rules in effect prior to this date. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.