VanEck Launches Value- and Growth-Oriented Versions of Their Popular Wide Moat Equity Strategy

MVAL and MGRO join MOAT and other ETFs in suite of funds built around Morningstar’s proven strategy of identifying quality companies with distinct economic moats trading at attractive valuations

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VanEck today added two new ETFs to its “moat”-focused ETF lineup: the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Value ETF (MVAL) and the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Growth ETF (MGRO).

“Investors and advisors have embraced the moat-focused approach to identifying quality companies trading at attractive valuations, and today we’re excited to extend that approach with the launch of MVAL and MGRO. These moat-focused ETFs allow investors to fine-tune their portfolios toward distinct style exposures, while maintaining a focus on valuations,” said Brandon Rakszawski, Director of Product Management with VanEck.

Both ETFs track indexes powered by Morningstar’s equity research team, which researches and assigns an economic moat rating to companies based on their ability to fend off competition and maintain profitability into the future. To reach “wide moat” status, Morningstar must expect a company to maintain its competitive advantages for at least 20 years. Additionally, Morningstar’s index construction approach takes valuation into account, focusing exposure on those companies trading at attractive prices relative to Morningstar’s estimate of fair value.

“We’re excited to be able to build on our successful long-term collaboration with VanEck by introducing two new moat-focused indexes. These two indexes harness the research insight of Morningstar equity analysts via a disciplined, repeatable construction methodology designed by Morningstar Indexes, the fastest growing index provider globally,” said Andrew Lane, Director of Equity Research Index Strategies for Morningstar.

Companies eligible for inclusion in both underlying indexes must have a wide moat rating and attractive valuation according to Morningstar. While the Morningstar US Broad Value Wide Moat Focus Index, which MVAL seeks to track, includes value-oriented companies, the Morningstar US Broad Growth Wide Moat Focus Index, which MGRO seeks to track, includes growth-oriented companies. This ensures a consistent style exposure over time for each respective index and ETF.

MVAL and MGRO join a suite of ETFs that traces its roots to 2012, when VanEck launched the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT), a fund with close to $15B in AUM (as of 3/27/2024). Its underlying index, the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index has delivered performance besting that of the S&P 500 Index over the past decade.

“Since its introduction, MOAT has, at various points, leaned more towards growth than value and vice versa. Now, with the addition of MVAL and MGRO, investors have a more complete moat-focused toolset to allocate to the exposures that they believe are best positioned for potential outperformance,” said Rakszawski. “Being a mega-cap company doesn’t always equate to having a wide economic moat, so for investors who are looking for growth strategies but are concerned about overconcentration among a handful of names in traditional passive growth ETFs, MGRO may be worth a closer look.”

In addition to MOAT, VanEck’s moat investing suite also includes the VanEck Morningstar Global Wide Moat ETF (MOTG), VanEck Morningstar International Moat ETF (MOTI), VanEck Morningstar SMID MOAT ETF (SMOT), VanEck Morningstar ESG Moat ETF (MOTE) and the mutual fund, VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Fund.

The VanEck team provides regular updates and insights into moat-focused investing available here.

About VanEck

VanEck has a history of looking beyond the financial markets to identify trends likely to create impactful investment opportunities. We were one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer investors access to international markets. This set the tone for the firm’s drive to identify asset classes and trends – including gold investing in 1968, emerging markets in 1993, and exchange-traded funds in 2006 – that subsequently shaped the investment management industry.

Today, VanEck offers active and passive strategies with compelling exposures supported by well-designed investment processes. As of February 29, 2024, VanEck managed approximately $92.5B in assets, including mutual funds, ETFs, and institutional accounts. The firm’s capabilities range from core investment opportunities to more specialized exposures to enhance portfolio diversification. Our actively managed strategies are fueled by in-depth, bottom-up research and security selection from portfolio managers with direct experience in the sectors and regions in which they invest. Investability, liquidity, diversity, and transparency are key to the experienced decision-making around market and index selection underlying VanEck’s passive strategies.

Since our founding in 1955, putting our clients’ interests first, in all market environments, has been at the heart of the firm’s mission.

Important Disclosures

This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities, financial instruments or digital assets mentioned herein. The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, tax advice, or any call to action. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward-looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are for illustrative purposes only, are valid as of the date of this communication, and are subject to change without notice. Actual future performance of any assets or industries mentioned are unknown. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. VanEck does not guarantee the accuracy of third party data. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck or its other employees.

An investor cannot invest directly in an index. Returns reflect past performance and do not guarantee future results. Results reflect the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, if any. Certain indices may take into account withholding taxes. Index returns do not represent Fund returns. The Index does not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, nor does the Index lend securities, and no revenues from securities lending were added to the performance shown.

The Morningstar^® Wide Moat Focus Index^SM and Morningstar^® US Small-Mid Cap Moat Focus Index^SM were created and are maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell, or promote the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF or the VanEck Morningstar SMID Moat ETF and bears no liability with respect to the ETFs or any security. Morningstar^® is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar^® Wide Moat Focus Index^SM and Morningstar^® US Small-Mid Cap Moat Focus Index^SM are service marks of Morningstar, Inc

The Morningstar^® US Broad Value Wide Moat Focus Index^SM and Morningstar^® US Broad Growth Wide Moat Focus Index^SM were created and are maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell, or promote the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Value ETF and VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Growth ETF and bears no liability with respect to the Funds or any security. Morningstar^® is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar® US Broad Value Wide Moat Focus Index^SM and Morningstar^® US Broad Growth Wide Moat Focus Index^SM are service marks of Morningstar, Inc.

Effective June 20, 2016, Morningstar implemented several changes to the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index construction rules. Among other changes, the index increased its constituent count from 20 stocks to at least 40 stocks and modified its rebalance and reconstitution methodology. These changes may result in more diversified exposure, lower turnover, and longer holding periods for index constituents than under the rules in effect prior to this date. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The Morningstar moat-driven indexes represent various regional exposures and consist of companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages and whose stocks are attractively priced, according to Morningstar.

The Morningstar^® Wide Moat Focus Index^SMIntended to track the overall performance of attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages according to Morningstar's equity research team.

Morningstar^® US Broad Value Wide Moat Focus Index^SM: consists of at least 30 U.S. value-oriented companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages, and whose stocks are the most attractively priced, according to Morningstar.

Morningstar^® US Broad Growth Wide Moat Focus Index^SM: consists of at least 30 U.S. growth-oriented companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages, and whose stocks are the most attractively priced, according to Morningstar.

The S&P 500 Index consists of 500 widely held common stocks covering industrial, utility, financial and transportation sector.

The S&P 500^® Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and/or its affiliates and has been licensed for use by Van Eck Associates Corporation. Copyright ©2024 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P Global, Inc., and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Redistribution or reproduction in whole or in part are prohibited without written permission of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC. For more information on any of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC’s indices please visit www.spdji.com. S&P^® is a registered trademark of S&P Global and Dow Jones^® is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, their affiliates nor their third party licensors make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the ability of any index to accurately represent the asset class or market sector that it purports to represent and neither S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, their affiliates nor their third party licensors shall have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of any index or the data included therein.

An investment in the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Value ETF (MVAL) may be subject to risks which include, among others, risks related to investing in equity securities, value style investing, financials sector, health care sector, industrials sector, large- and medium-capitalization companies, market, operational, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, new fund, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, passive management, fund shares trading, premium/discount and liquidity of fund shares, non-diversified, and index-related concentration risks, all of which may adversely affect the Fund. Large- and medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks. The Fund’s value strategy may result in the Fund investing in securities or industry sectors that underperform the market as a whole. Furthermore, the value companies identified by the Index provider may not operate as expected, and there is no guarantee that the index provider’s proprietary valuation model will perform as intended.

An investment in the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Growth ETF (MGRO) may be subject to risks which include, among others, risks related to investing in equity securities, growth style investing, consumer discretionary sector, industrials sector, financials sector, large- and medium-capitalization companies, health care sector, information technology sector, market, operational, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, new fund, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, passive management, fund shares trading, premium/discount and liquidity of fund shares, non-diversified, and index-related concentration risk, all of which may adversely affect the Fund. Large- and medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks. The Fund’s growth strategy may result in the Fund investing in securities or industry sectors that underperform the market as a whole. Furthermore, the growth companies identified by the Index provider may not operate as expected, and there is no guarantee that the index provider’s proprietary valuation model will perform as intended.

The principal risks of investing in VanEck ETFs and mutual funds include, but are not limited to, sector, market, economic, political, foreign currency, world event, index tracking, active management, social media analytics, derivatives, blockchain, commodities and non-diversification risks, as well as fluctuations in net asset value and the risks associated with investing in less developed capital markets. VanEck ETFs may also be subject to authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, passive management, fund shares trading, premium/discount risk and liquidity of fund shares risks. VanEck ETFs or mutual funds may loan their securities, which may subject them to additional credit and counterparty risk. ETFs or mutual funds that invest in high-yield securities are subject to subject to risks associated with investing in high-yield securities; which include a greater risk of loss of income and principal than funds holding higher-rated securities; concentration risk; credit risk; hedging risk; interest rate risk; and short sale risk. ETFs or mutual funds that invest in companies with small capitalizations are subject to elevated risks, which include, among others, greater volatility, lower trading volume and less liquidity than larger companies.

Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. An investor should consider the investment objective, risks, charges and expenses of a Fund carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus, which contain this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing.

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Contacts

Chase Kosinski
Craft & Capital
chase@craftandcapital.com