If the recent headlines can serve as any indication, uncertainty in the U.S. economy won’t be going away any time soon.
As such, advisors and investors will likely want to make sure they maintain a portfolio that offers a good amount of diversification from U.S. equities. A diversification strategy that has proven to be particularly popular this year is to seek out international equities. One way to do so is through investing in an international equity ETF, such as the MFS Active International ETF (MFSI).
There’s a good reason why so many folks have chosen to broaden their international equity exposure. Not only do international equities provide crucial diversification, but they can generate a return profile highly similar to that of U.S. equities themselves.
However, it’s important to be very careful when allocating assets to international companies. Sure, international equities can provide new avenues of returns and deep diversification potential, but they also open advisors and investors up to a number of different economic and geopolitical risk factors.
This is why active management can be so crucial when it comes to building exposure to companies around the globe. All the factors that work in favor of active management for U.S. equities or fixed income work twofold when navigating the complexities of the global economy.
In part, this is due to the flexibility that active management can bring to the table. Actively managed funds, such as MFSI, can more deftly navigate different countries, sectors, and individual companies to locate the best opportunities to invest in, be it offensively or defensively.
MFSI’s Approach to Active International Investing
By looking under the hood of MFSI, one can gain a better understanding of how the fund can stand out compared to other international strategies in the field. True to its name, MFSI is an actively managed fund from the MFS team that looks to offer deep capital appreciation through its portfolio of international equities.
MFSI constructs its portfolio by focusing on the fundamentals. The investment team’s stock picking expertise focuses on simply finding companies that are poised to deliver good results over the long term.
Notably, MFSI seeks to deliver a well-diversified portfolio of high-conviction ideas following a growth-at-a-reasonable price style with a quality bias. The portfolio relies on individual stock selection as the primary source of alpha generation, which seeks high quality, attractively valued companies identified through their global investment platform.
So far, MFSI’s approach to international investing has paid off with strong results this year. Year-to-date, the fund’s NAV has risen by 21.44%, as of September 30, 2025.
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