Description

This exchange-traded fund employs a passive management approach to create a premium portfolio consisting of large and mid-capitalization companies found in developed international markets, specifically excluding the United States and Canada. The selection process begins by identifying the top 1,000 largest stocks from these regions. From this extensive pool, eligible securities are then categorized by industry and assessed using a multi-factor quality score, which is also adjusted for company size. This quality score is generally a weighted average of three fundamental financial measures: free cash flow margin, return on invested capital, and the stability of free cash flow. However, for banking institutions, return on equity and the debt-to-assets ratio are considered instead. The resulting portfolio, comprising roughly 60 to 100 stocks, is strategically weighted to prioritize exposure to sectors exhibiting high quality, as determined by their return on invested capital. The fund's underlying index undergoes rebalancing twice per year.