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What Did Our Annual Index Rebalance Uncover? Value Opportunity in Emerging Markets

Published November 17, 2014

Jeremy Schwartz, CFA
Jeremy Schwartz, CFA

Global Chief Investment Officer

At WisdomTree, a critical way for us to identify valuation opportunities is through our annual Index rebalancing. Our process is designed to evaluate the underlying fundamentals of Index constituents each year. For our dividend Indexes, this translates to reweighting companies in an Index relative to their contribution to the Dividend Stream® —the sum total of all dividends paid within a given Index. We impart a disciplined focus on valuation by typically: • increasing weight to firms that are growing their dividends—especially in cases where share price performance has not yet responded • decreasing weight from firms that see their dividends decrease, especially following runs of strong share price appreciation Looking at current valuations across the world, some of the lowest-priced stocks are found in the emerging markets. While the U.S. markets1 have been on a tear over the last five years, emerging markets have shown lackluster returns. This relative underperformance may be creating some special valuation opportunities for value-minded investors. We analyze below how the exposure characteristics of each WisdomTree Index changed at the most recent annual rebalance. The fact that, outside of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Growth Index, each exhibited a higher trailing 12-month dividend yield after the rebalance was not surprising. However, the behavior of the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is, by and large, a welcome bonus. While the screening methodology does not specifically focus on earnings for any of the Indexes shown, we note that four out of five exhibit lower P/E ratios following the rebalance. Summarizing the Impact of the Rebalance

Impact-of-the-Rebalance,-d-,png.ashx

For definitions of terms and Indexes in the chart, please visit our glossary. For more information on these Indexes and full rebalance details, click here. 1Refers to S&P 500 Index universe; source: Bloomberg, as of 9/30/14.

Important Risks Related to this Article

Investments in emerging, offshore or frontier markets are generally less liquid and less efficient than investments in developed markets and are subject to additional risks, such as risks of adverse governmental regulation and intervention or political developments. Dividends are not guaranteed, and a company’s future ability to pay dividends may be limited. A company currently paying dividends may cease paying dividends at any time.

About the contributor

Jeremy Schwartz, CFA
Jeremy Schwartz, CFA

Global Chief Investment Officer

Jeremy Schwartz has served as Global Chief Investment Officer since November 2021 and leads WisdomTree’s investment strategy team in the construction of WisdomTree’s equity Indexes, quantitative active strategies and multi-asset Model Portfolios. Jeremy joined WisdomTree in May 2005 as a Senior Analyst, adding Deputy Director of Research to his responsibilities in February 2007. He served as Director of Research from October 2008 to October 2018 and as Global Head of Research from November 2018 to November 2021. Before joining WisdomTree, he was a head research assistant for Professor Jeremy Siegel and, in 2022, became his co-author on the sixth edition of the book Stocks for the Long Run. Jeremy is also co-author of the Financial Analysts Journal paper “What Happened to the Original Stocks in the S&P 500?” He received his B.S. in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and hosts the Behind the Markets podcast. Jeremy is a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia.

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