Moat Investing - ETF Strategy

28 June 2019

Watch Time 2:52

Moat investing is based on a simple concept: invest in companies with sustainable competitive advantages trading at attractive valuations. Morningstar turns this philosophy into an actionable investment strategy.

Video Transcript

Moat Investing, Powered by Morningstar

VO: Moat, a term first coined by Warren Buffet.

What is an economic moat?

VO: A company’s ability to maintain competitive advantages and fend off its competition in order to protect its long-term profits and market share. Moat investing is based on a simple concept: invest in companies with sustainable competitive advantages trading at attractive valuations.

Morningstar turns the moat investing philosophy into an actionable investment strategy.

VO: Morningstar has identified 5 sources of competitive advantages (or moats):

Switching costs: Whether in time or money, the expenses that a customer would incur to change from one producer/provider to another

Intangible assets: Brands, patents, and regulatory licenses that block competition and/or allow companies to charge more.

Network effect: When the value of a service grows as more people use a network

Cost advantage: Allows firms to sell at the same prices as competition and gather excess profit and/or have the option to undercut competition

Efficient scale: When a company serves a market limited in size, new competitors may not have an incentive to enter.

In order to avoid overpaying for moat companies, Morningstar assigns each company a fair value based on its projected future cash flows and assesses its current price against this fair value. This forward-looking valuation approach allows long-term investors to look beyond a company’s current price and potential noise in the market.

Leverage Morningstar’s forward-looking moat investment philosophy across global equity markets through VanEck’s Moat Investing strategy.

VanEck’s moat investing strategy offers: moat companies, attractive valuations, Morningstar’s Equity Research.

Important Disclosure

This video does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation to buy any security.

VanEck’s opinions stated in this video may deviate from opinions presented by other VanEck departments or companies. Information and opinions in this video are based on VanEck’s analysis. Any forecasts and projections contained in the video appear from the named sources. All opinions in this video are, regardless of source, given in good faith, and may only be valid as of the stated date of this video and are subject to change without notice in subsequent versions of the video. Any projections, market outlooks or estimates in this material are forward-looking statements and are based upon certain assumptions that are solely the opinion of VanEck. Any projections, outlooks or assumptions should not be construed to be indicative of the actual events which will occur.

No investment advice

The video is intended only to provide general and preliminary information to investors and shall not be construed as the basis for any investment decision. This video has been prepared by VanEck as general information for private use of investors to whom the video has been distributed, but it is not intended as a personal recommendation of particular financial instruments or strategies and thus it does not provide individually tailored investment advice, and does not take into account the individual investor’s financial situation, existing holdings or liabilities, investment knowledge and experience, investment objective and horizon or risk profile and preferences. The investor must particularly ensure the suitability of an investment as regards his/her financial and fiscal situation and investment objectives. The investor bears the risk of losses in connection with an investment.

Before acting on any information in this publication or report, it is recommendable to consult one’s financial advisor.

Forecasts, estimates, and certain information contained herein are based upon proprietary research and the information contained in this material is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as investment, tax or legal advice, any recommendation, or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy, an interest in any security. References to specific securities and their issuers or sectors are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell such securities or gain exposure to such sectors.

Each investor shall make his/her own appraisal of the tax and other financial merits of his/her investment.

Sources

This video may be based on or contain information, such as opinions, recommendations, estimates, price targets and valuations which emanate from: VanEck portfolio managers, analysts or representatives, publicly available information, information from other units or Companies of VanEck, or other named sources.

To the extent this video is based on or contain information emerging from other sources (“Other Sources”) than VanEck (“External Information”), VanEck has deemed the Other Sources to be reliable but neither the VanEck companies, others associated or affiliated with said companies nor any other person, do guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of the External Information.

Limitation of liability

VanEck and its associated and affiliated companies assume no liability as regards to any investment, divestment or retention decision taken by the investor on the basis of this video. In no event will VanEck or other associated and affiliated companies be liable for direct, indirect or incidental, special or consequential damages resulting from the information in this publication or report.

Risk information

The risk of investing in certain financial instruments, is generally high, as their market value is exposed to a lot of different factors such as the operational and financial conditions of the relevant company, growth prospects, change in interest rates, the economic and political environment, foreign exchange rates, shifts in market sentiments etc. Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor’s currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Estimates of future performance are based on assumptions that may not be realized. When investing in individual shares, the investor may lose all or part of the investments.

Conflicts of interest

VanEck, its affiliates or staff of VanEck companies, may perform services for, solicit business from, hold long or short positions in, or otherwise be interested in the investments (including derivatives) of any company mentioned in this video.

To limit possible conflicts of interest and counter the abuse of inside knowledge, the representatives, portfolio managers and analysts of VanEck are subject to internal rules on sound ethical conduct, the management of inside information, handling of unpublished research material, contact with other units of VanEck and personal account dealing. The internal rules have been prepared in accordance with applicable legislation and relevant industry standards. The object of the internal rules is for example to ensure that no analyst will abuse or cause others to abuse confidential information. This video has been prepared following the VanEck Conflict of Interest Policy.

Distribution restriction

This video is not intended for, and must not be distributed to private customers.

Index Descriptions

VanEck Morningstar US Wide Moat UCITS ETF is a sub-fund of VanEck^®UCITS ETFs plc., organised under the laws of Ireland. Any investment decision must be made on the basis of the prospectus and the key investor information document (“KIID”), which is available at www.vaneck.com.

Morningstar^®Wide Moat Focus Index^TMis a trade mark of Morningstar inc. and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by VanEck. VanEck Morningstar US Wide Moat UCITS ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Morningstar and Morningstar makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in VanEck Morningstar US Wide Moat UCITS ETF.

All indices named in the video are unmanaged indices and include the reinvestment of all dividends, but do not reflect the payment of transaction costs, advisory fees or expenses that are associated with an investment in the Fund. An index’s performance is not illustrative of the Fund’s performance. Indices are not securities in which investments can be made.