iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

IEFA

Market cap $187B

The iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEARCA:IEFA | IEFA Price Prediction) has quietly become one of the year's standout core holdings, trading near $97 after a 8% year-to-date run and a 22% one-year gain.

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Income investors holding iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF (NASDAQ:EUFN | EUFN Price Prediction) are sitting on a fund that has done two things at once: handed them a roughly 3.5% yield and delivered a 28% one-year return.

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The iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF has managed to outperform the S&P 500 in 2026, notwithstanding relative underperformance since the start of the war in Iran. IEFA invests in companies operating primarily in energy-importing developed markets in Europe and Asia, a poor geographic focus in the current geopolitical climate. Even so, trading at only 18.41x their trailing earnings, IEFA holdings remain attractively valued relative to the S&P 500 even if we account for weaker earnings growth.

IEFA charges a slightly lower expense ratio and offers a higher dividend yield than IEMG. IEMG has delivered a stronger one-year return but with a steeper five-year drawdown.

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