ETF Research Center

The iShares MSCI Japan Index fund seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the MSCI Japan Index. The index consists primarily of large cap stocks traded in the Japanese market.

FUND BASICS
Category	International Equities
Fund Sponsor	Barclays Global Fund Advisors
Website	www.ishares.com
Inception date	Mar 18, 1996
Assets (mns)	$13,932
Currency	USD
Expense ratio	47 bp
Distributions	Semi-Annually

FUND STRUCTURE
Regulation	Open-Ended Fund
Custodian	State Street Bank & Trust
Weighting	Market Cap
Index replication	n/a
Uses derivatives	No
Options available	Yes

SECTOR BREAKDOWN

CONSTITUENT BREAKDOWN
No. of constituents	323
Wgt avg mkt cap (mns)	$37,481
Large cap (>$10bn)	76.5%
Mid cap ($2-10bn)	23.4%
Small cap (<$2bn)	0.2%
Developed mkts	100.0%
Emerging mkts	0.0%

TOP TEN HOLDINGS
Total	19.4 %
TOYOTA MOTOR CORP	4.4 %
SONY CORP	2.5 %
SOFTBANK GROUP CORP.	1.9 %
KEYENCE CORP	1.8 %
MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GRO	1.8 %
TAKEDA PHARMACEUTICAL CO LTD	1.6 %
KDDI CORPORATION	1.4 %
RECRUIT HOLDINGS CO LTD	1.4 %
SUMITOMO MITSUI FINANCIAL GR	1.3 %
HONDA MOTOR CO LTD	1.2 %

TOP COUNTRY EXPOSURE
	JAPAN	99.5 %

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE info

	Custom date range	Compare to
	thru

Standardized Annual Returns (thru December 31)
Year-to-date	1 year	5 years	10 years	Since Incep.
19.3%	19.3%	7.4%	6.0%	0.9%

Market Correlations
versus...	Beta	R-squared
S&P500	0.79	70%
MSCI EAFE	0.91	78%
MSCI Emg. Mkts.	0.63	64%

Technical Indicators
Recent close	$59.69
30d moving avg.	$59.81
Annualized volatility	11.4%
Short interest (ETF)	1.8%
Relative strength (RSI)	43

Liquidity measures
Avg. volume (thou.)	6,737
Turnover	2.9%
Bid/Ask (% of price)	0.02%
ADV underlying (mns)	$12,577

Distributions

FINDING ALTERNATIVE FUNDS

Below is a list of 20 potential alternatives to the iShares MSCI Japan ETF based on the alternatives' overlap in portfolio holdings with EWJ. Consider funds with lower expense ratios and/or higher ALTAR Score™ ratings as possible alternatives.

Benchmark ticker:

EWJ

Expense:

47 bp

ALTAR Score™:

7.4%

ALTERNATIVE ETFs BASED ON OVERLAP WITH EWJ
Ticker	Fund Name	Overlap¹ vs EWJ (%)	Expense ratio (bp)	Savings vs EWJ (bp)	ALTAR Score™ (%)	ALTAR vs EWJ (%)
DBJP	Xtrackers MSCI Japan Hedged	94.8	45	2	7.3	-0.2
BBJP	JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan	93.8	19	28	7.7	+0.2
QJPN	SPDR MSCI Japan Quality Mix	92.6	14	33	7.8	+0.4
HFXJ	IQ 50 Percent Hedged FTSE Japan	90.6	30	17	7.5	+0.1
FLJP	Franklin FTSE Japan	90.5	9	38	7.8	+0.4
FLJH	Franklin FTSE Japan Hedged	89.0	9	38	7.7	+0.2
JPXN	iShares JPX-Nikkei 400	85.1	48	-1	7.4	+0.0
JPN	Xtrackers Japan JPX-Nikkei 400 Equity	84.6	9	38	7.8	+0.4
GSJY	Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta Japan Equity	80.9	25	22	7.5	+0.1
EWJE	iShares MSCI Japan Equal Weighted	58.1	15	32	7.0	-0.4
IPAC	iShares Core MSCI Pacific	57.1	9	38	7.2	-0.3
DXJ	WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity	56.9	48	-1	8.2	+0.8
EWJV	iShares MSCI Japan Value	54.2	15	32	10.4	+3.0
VPL	Vanguard Pacific ETF	49.3	9	38	7.5	+0.1
SCIJ	Global X Scientific Beta Japan	47.0	39	8	6.9	-0.5
JPMV	iShares MSCI Japan Min Volatility	46.4	30	17	6.8	-0.7
RFAP	First Trust Riverfront Dynamic Asia Pacific	44.3	83	-36	7.0	-0.5
IVLU	iShares MSCI Int'l Developed Value Factor	36.0	30	17	10.2	+2.8
REFA	Invesco International Revenue ETF	31.7	42	5	8.6	+1.2
PQIN	PGIM QMA Strategic Alpha International Equity	29.5	29	18	7.0	-0.4

¹Overlap is the percentage of holdings by weight that are identical. For example, if Fund A has a 2% position in Apple, Inc. (AAPL) and Fund B has a 5% position, their overlapping position in AAPL is 2%.

Content on this tab for subscribers only**

RESULTS & ESTIMATES

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019E	2020E
Sales per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Earnings per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Dividends per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Book value per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**

Sales per share growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%
EPS growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%

Sales per share growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%
EPS growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%

OTHER FUNDAMENTAL METRICS

Long term EPS growth est.	**%		Debt-to-equity	**x
Asset turnover	**%		Assets-to-equity	**x

Return on equity

Revision activity*

*Six months ago = 100

Net margins

Compound annual growth rates

Content on this tab for subscribers only

VALUATION METRICS

	2018	2019E	2020E
Price-to-sales	**	**	**
Price-to-earnings	**	**	**
Price-to-cash flow	**	**	**
Price-to-growth	**	**	**
Price-to-book value	**	**	**
Yield	**	**	**

Historical valuation trends

Forward multiple:	iShares MSCI Japan
Relative to:	S&P500	MSCI EAFE	MSCI Emg. Mkts.	Other ETF:

OVERWEIGHT

Above average appreciation potential. A rating of OVERWEIGHT is assigned to ETFs with ALTAR Scores in the 4th quintile (ranking higher than 60%-80%) of their category. Typically, funds in this category consist of stocks trading at attractive valuations and/or having above-average fundamentals.

ALTAR Score™

Calculation of ALTAR Score™
Avg. Return on Equity	9.6	%
Divided by: Fwd. P/BV	1.2	x
Less: Expense ratio	47	bp
Equals: ALTAR Score	7.4	%

More information on ALTAR Score™

MODERN PORTFOLIO THEORY info

CONSENSUS RECOMMENDATIONS: FUND CONSTITUENTS

COMPOSITE RATING	1.56	CATEGORY AVERAGE	1.63

The composite rating is a weighted average of analysts' consensus recommendations for individual ETF constituents, based on the following scale: BUY = 1; OVERWEIGHT = 1.5, HOLD = 2; UNDERWEIGHT = 2.5; and SELL = 3. Readers are cautioned that because analyst ratings tend to be inflated, the composite score may be more useful as a relative measure of sentiment between funds rather than as a stand-alone recommendation.