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 suite of Moat Investing Funds.
VanEck’s moat investing suite: moat companies, attractive valuations, Morningstar’s Equity Research.
VO: Learn more at vaneck.com/moatinvesting
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IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE
The information presented does not involve the rendering of personalized investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Certain statements contained herein may constitute projections, forecasts and other forward looking statements, which do not reflect actual results, are valid as of the date of this communication and subject to change without notice. Information provided by third party sources are believed to be reliable and have not been independently verified for accuracy or completeness and cannot be guaranteed. The information herein represents the opinion of the author(s), but not necessarily those of VanEck.
Fair value estimate: The Morningstar analyst's estimate of what a stock is worth.
Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index consists of U.S. companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages and whose stocks are the most attractively priced, according to Morningstar. Morningstar Global ex-US Moat Focus Index consists of international companies identified as having sustainable, competitive advantages and whose stocks are attractively priced.
Effective June 20, 2016, Morningstar implemented several changes to the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index construction rules. Among other changes, the index increased its constituent count from 20 stocks to at least 40 stocks and modified its rebalance and reconstitution methodology. These changes may result in more diversified exposure, lower turnover, and longer holding periods for index constituents than under the rules in effect prior to this date. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Effective June 20, 2016, Morningstar implemented several changes to the Morningstar Global ex-US Moat Focus Index construction rules. Among other changes, the index increased its constituent count from 50 stocks to at least 50 stocks and modified its rebalance and reconstitution methodology. These changes may result in more diversified exposure, lower turnover, and longer holding periods for index constituents than under the rules in effect prior to this date. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexSM, Morningstar® Global ex-US Moat Focus IndexSM, and Morningstar® Global Wide Moat Focus IndexSM were created and are maintained by Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. does not sponsor, endorse, issue, sell, or promote the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF, VanEck Vectors Morningstar International Moat ETF, or VanEck Vectors Morningstar Global Wide Moat ETF and bears no liability with respect to the ETFs or any security. Morningstar® is a registered trademark of Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index, Morningstar Global ex-US Moat Focus Index, and Morningstar Global Wide Moat Focus Index are service marks of Morningstar, Inc.
An investor cannot invest directly in an index. Returns reflect past performance and do not guarantee future results. Results reflect the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, if any. Certain indices may take into account withholding taxes. Index returns do not represent Fund returns. The Index does not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, nor does the Index lend securities, and no revenues from securities lending were added to the performance shown.
An investment in the VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT®), VanEck Vectors Morningstar International Moat ETF (MOTI®), VanEck Vectors Morningstar Global Wide Moat ETF (GOAT) and VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat Fund, (the “Funds”) may be subject to risks which include, among others, investing in the health care, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, industrials, telecommunications, information technology, financial services, medium-capitalization companies, equity securities, market, operational, high portfolio turnover, index tracking and data, emerging market issuers, special risk considerations of investing in European and Asian issuers, depositary receipts, cash transactions, underlying fund, new fund, market, operational, high portfolio turnover, index tracking, authorized participant concentration, no guarantee of active trading market, trading issues, replication management, passive 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. Foreign investments are subject to risks, which include changes in economic and political conditions, foreign currency fluctuations, changes in foreign regulations, and changes in currency exchange rates which may negatively impact the Fund's returns.
MOAT, MOTI and GOAT 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. You will incur brokerage expenses when trading Fund shares in the secondary market. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Investing involves substantial risk and high volatility, including possible loss of principal. Bonds and bond funds will decrease in value as interest rates rise. An investor should consider a Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus for VanEck Funds and VanEck Vectors ETFs, which contain this and other information, call 800.826.2333 or visit vaneck.com. Please read the prospectus and summary prospectus for VanEck Funds and VanEck Vectors ETFs carefully before investing.
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