The Lazard Emerging Markets Opportunities ETF (EMKT) seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the performance of emerging markets equity securities through active management. This geographic-focused ETF targets companies in developing economies across Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa, aiming to capitalize on growth opportunities in these higher-risk, higher-potential markets.
How It Works
EMKT employs an actively managed approach where Lazard's portfolio managers select emerging markets stocks based on fundamental analysis and valuation metrics. The fund likely focuses on companies with strong growth prospects, competitive advantages, and attractive valuations across various sectors and countries. As an active strategy, holdings and weightings are adjusted based on manager conviction rather than index constraints, with rebalancing occurring as market conditions and opportunities evolve.
Key Features
- Active management by Lazard's experienced emerging markets team allows for opportunistic positioning and risk management versus passive indexing
- Recently launched fund with 0.00% expense ratio, though this promotional rate may increase after initial period
- Focused on identifying undervalued opportunities across diverse emerging economies rather than broad market-cap weighted exposure
Risks
- This ETF can lose value significantly during emerging markets selloffs, potentially declining 40-60% during global risk-off periods like 2008 or 2020
- Currency fluctuations can amplify losses when local currencies weaken against the dollar, adding 10-20% additional volatility to returns
- Political instability, regulatory changes, and economic crises in emerging countries can cause sudden, severe declines in individual holdings or entire regions
Who Should Own This
Best suited for aggressive investors with high risk tolerance and 7+ year time horizons seeking emerging markets exposure as a satellite holding (5-15% of total portfolio). Requires patience for volatility and ability to withstand multi-year underperformance periods. Appropriate for investors wanting active management over passive emerging markets indexing.