Israel ETF: Scant Attention, Plenty Of Potential
The ETF Professor was curious as to why Israel doesn't get more attention when it comes to the discussion on compelling international investment opportunities. Whatever the reason is, the Professor is going to change that.
Israel is the one country in its region that isn't flush with petroleum reserves and the country has managed to excel by creating a services-based company focused on tech and pharma, among other industries.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) have recently added operations in Israel and some analysts expect Israel's GDP to grow by 4% in 2011.
This is a long-winded way of saying the iShares MSCI Israel Capped Investable Market Index (NYSE: ESI) is worth a look. Flying under the traditional media's radar, ESI is up more than 61% year-to-date.
Teva Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: TEVA) is the top holding at nearly 22%, and three sectors, financial services, healthcare and industrial materials, account for more than 68% of ESI's holdings.
The ETF Professor views ESI as a developed market play with the potential for emerging market returns.
