ETF Global

We like to use this space to not only highlight Quant’s top rankers but also those up and comers.  Two recent mentions, PIQ and SOXX have come all the way up to 1^st and 2^nd place today from the mid teen ranks when we mentioned them.  They have outperformed since those mentions and their ranks today suggests that outperformance has only just begun.  It has been about a month since we mentioned the SPDR DJ EURO STOXX 50 Fund (FEZ) and it too has outperformed since then even though it dropped out of Quant’s top 50 ranks.  Today it is back at 20^th place and back on our up and comer list.  It is joined by a new entry in this space, the iShares S&P Europe 350 Index Fund (IEV) that has peeked into the top 100 a couple times in recent months but finds itself rocketing 127 places overnight into Quant’s 28^th rank.  A big move like that usually results from some heavy option activity skewing the Sentiment Score higher, not this time.  IEV gets up there today on an unusually large rise in the more durable Technical Score going from 42.1 up to 74.6. Last night we saw Mick Jagger call the 121212 concert the greatest collection of aging British rocks stars ever assembled at Madison Square Garden, we thought the Americans generally outperformed but didn’t stay up to watch Sir Paul.  IEV also has a collection of British stars with 34.2% of AUM in British headquartered companies, its biggest weight.  Quant likes France and Germany more which helps account for FEZ’s higher rank even though IEV gets better scores across the other categories.  Comparing the two side by side in our ETFG Scanner we can see some differences.  Both funds have a little over $1 billion in AUM with FEZ getting the edge as it does in most categories.  Each one has earned 8 Green Reward Diamonds and 5 Red Risk Diamonds but the actual ratings carried to two decimal places again favor FEZ which has better recent performance and slightly better fundamentals.  Even though FEZ looks a little cheaper than IEV, the latter wins out when analyzed in its historical perspective giving it a Fundamental Score of 70 compared to FEZ’s 66.8, but FEZ gets a couple more points on the overall Quant Score leading to its higher rank.  8 Quant positions out of more than 800 entries isn’t too much, so if you are looking to invest in Europe either one looks good.  The decision should come down to whether you like France and Germany more than Great Britain.  At ETF Global we like all of Europe and welcome business from any corner there.  We also like aging British rock stars and look forward to watching Sir Paul’s performance last night on the DVR.