Debt-Free Future Buoys The Case For Philippines ETF
Benzinga | Jul 08, 2012 01:10AM ET
The iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: EPHE) was not just one of the top-performing country funds in the first half of 2012, it was one of the best-performing non-leveraged ETFs period.
EPHE has been a stalwart ETFshowing consistent strength while outperforming the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE: VWO) by almost 2,500 basis points year-to-date.
The long-term bull case for the Philippine economy and EPHE has received more ammunition: The ASEAN nation may be debt-free in just a few years. Roberto Juanchito Dispo, president and chief executive officer of First Metro Investment Corp. said the country is on a path to being debt-free, according to Bloomberg .
Dispo also said that business process outsourcing in the Philippines is rivaling that of India, noting that revenue from that business could be $15 billion this year.
EPHE, the lone Philippines-specific ETF available to U.S. investors, features a 38.3 percent weight to financial services stocks and a 25.3 percent allocation to industrial names, indicating the fund is well-positioned to take advantage of improving economic and fiscal trends in the Philippines.
BY The ETF Professor
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