Investors considering a core investment portfolio position should look to an exchange traded fund strategy focusing on quality companies with wide economic moats that help provide long-term competitive advantages.
The VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (NYSEArca: MOAT) tries to reflect the performance of the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index, which is comprised of attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages.
The Morningstar Moat Focus Indices target companies with a wide economic moat or sustainable competitive advantages and targets the most undervalued moat stocks, which have helped generate significant excess returns relative to the overall market.
The wide moat ETF’s underlying index’s methodology has helped the fund outperform the broader market. MOAT increased 7.9% year-to-date while the S&P 500 rose 5.3%. Over a longer three-year period, MOAT has shown an average annualized 11.1% return, compared to the S&P 500’s 10.9% gain.
The wide moat ETF may also be seen as a passive smart-beta play that incorporates actively managed investment styles. Brandon Rakszawski, Product Manager at VanEck Global, told ETF Trends that “MOAT is ‘quasi-active.'” explaining that the fund’s rules-based underlying index screens for factors that may traditionally be found in active management.