VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) Celebrates Its Fifth Anniversary

Fund marks important milestone as it reaches $1 billion in assets

NEW YORK--()--VanEck is today celebrating the fifth anniversary of the launch of its VanEck Vectors® Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (NYSE Arca: MOAT). At the same time the Fund is marking five years of trading, it also recently passed $1 billion in assets.

MOAT’s underlying index is provided by Morningstar, where a team of equity analysts uses a proprietary research process to determine whether a company has an economic “moat,” i.e., a significant sustainable competitive advantage, and then further narrows down the list of potential index constituents to include only those “wide moat” companies with attractive valuations. The index, Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus Index (MWMFTR),1 is reviewed quarterly, and currently includes such companies as Amazon, Visa, Eli Lilly, Salesforce, and others.

“When we brought MOAT to market, we felt strongly that we were providing investors with an intelligently designed ETF that provided exposure to an intuitive and proven approach to equity investing,” said Ed Lopez, Head of ETF Product Management and Marketing with VanEck. “Identifying great companies and buying them at attractive prices has long been a mantra of successful investors, and we believe that Morningstar’s index methodology and research capabilities, combined with the low cost, highly liquid format of an ETF, have helped drive the Fund’s strong performance over the past five years and helped MOAT gain traction with investors.”

MOAT has posted a 14.82 percent annualized return since launch through 1Q 2017, and has earned 4 star Morningstar ratings for both its 3-year and overall performance.2

Each quarter, VanEck hosts a portfolio discussion with Morningstar’s analysts that is open to the public, and investors with an interest in a moat-driven approach can also subscribe to VanEck’s Moat Investing newsletter to stay current on MOAT-related commentary and be alerted to changes in the holdings of the Fund’s underlying Index. For recent updates and to subscribe, please visit https://www.vaneck.com/blogs/moat-investing/.

MOAT is part of VanEck’s family of Strategic Equity ETFs, which also includes the VanEck Vectors® Morningstar International Moat ETF (NYSE Arca: MOTI), which applies Morningstar’s analysis of competitive moats to companies outside the U.S.

About VanEck

VanEck’s mission is to offer investors forward-looking, intelligently designed investment strategies that take advantage of targeted market opportunities. Founded in 1955, the firm is a pioneer in global investing with a history of placing clients’ interests first in all market environments. Today, VanEck continues this tradition by offering innovative active and passive investment portfolios in hard assets, emerging markets equity and debt, precious metals, fixed income, and other alternative asset classes. VanEck Vectors exchange-traded products are one of the largest ETP families in the world, managing more than 70 funds that span a range of sectors, asset classes, and geographies. As of March 31, 2017, VanEck managed approximately $43.4 billion in assets, including mutual funds, ETFs, and institutional accounts.

 

VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT)

Quarter-End Performance History (%) as of March 31, 2017

                 
    YTD   1 YR   3 YR   Life 04-24-12
NAV   7.87   23.46   10.28   14.82
Share Price   7.75   23.47   10.26   14.82
     
Fees and Expenses3    
Gross Expense Ratio   0.50%
Net Expense Ratio   0.49%

3Expenses for MOAT are capped contractually at 0.49% until at least February 1, 2018.

Cap excludes certain expenses, such as interest.

 

Important Disclosures

The index listed is unmanaged and does not reflect the payment of transaction costs, advisory fees, or expenses that are associated with an investment in any underlying exchange-traded funds. Index performance is not illustrative of fund performance. Fund performance current to the most recent month end is available by visiting vaneck.com. Historical performance is not indicative of future results; current data may differ from data quoted. Indexes are unmanaged and are not securities in which an investment can be made.

1The Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus Index was created and is maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell, or promote the VanEck Vectors Wide Moat ETF and bears no liability with respect to that ETF or any security. Morningstar® is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus Index is a service mark of Morningstar, Inc. The Morningstar®Wide Moat Focus Indexconsists of companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages and whose stocks are attractively priced, according to Morningstar.

2©2017 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund’s monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) The Overall Morningstar Rating for a fund is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five- and ten-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. As of March 31, 2017, MOAT received Morningstar Rating of 4 stars, rated against 1,248 Large Blend funds overall and for the last three years.

Fund shares are not individually redeemable and will be issued and redeemed at their Net Asset Value (NAV) only through certain authorized broker-dealers in large, specified blocks of shares called “creation units” and otherwise can be bought and sold only through exchange trading. Shares may trade at a premium or discount to their NAV in the secondary market.

An investment in the Fund may be subject to risks which include, among others, investing in the health care, consumer discretionary, industrials, information technology and financial services sectors, medium-capitalization companies, equity securities, market, operational, high portfolio turnover, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, replication management, fund shares trading, premium/discount risk and liquidity of fund shares, non-diversified, and concentration risks, which may make these investments volatile in price or difficult to trade. Medium-capitalization companies may be subject to elevated risks. The Fund's assets may be concentrated in a particular sector and may be subject to more risk than investments in a diverse group of sectors.

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

Van Eck Securities Corporation, Distributor
666 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
800.826.2333

Contacts

Media:
MacMillan Communications
Mike MacMillan/Chris Sullivan, 212-473-4442
chris@macmillancom.com

Release Summary

The MOAT ETF is turning 5 and has crossed the $1 billion asset mark. Using an index and research from Morningstar, MOAT's constituents include only "wide moat" companies with attractive valuations.

Contacts

Media:
MacMillan Communications
Mike MacMillan/Chris Sullivan, 212-473-4442
chris@macmillancom.com