VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF

MOAT

Market cap $11.7B

Wall Street is caught in the midst of shifting geopolitical stances of the United States and Iran, chances of higher global inflation, weak U.S. jobs data, the possibility of stagflation in the U.S. economy, and the Fed's likely dilemma in fixing the monetary policy amid a weakening labor market and accelerating inflation. Also, the occasional selloffs in the red-hot artificial intelligence (AI) space have been a steady concern.

AI-driven moat rating downgrades played a major role in the Moat Index's Q2 review, reshaping tech exposure while surfacing attractively priced opportunities across other sectors. Key Takeaways Morningstar's March reassessment of software companies drove a larger-than-usual portion of the Index's turnover this quarter.

MOAT is comprised of two sub-portfolios of U.S. securities with low price-to-fair market value ratios and "wide moat" ratings from Morningstar. Its expense ratio is 0.46%. On the surface, MOAT's 24.34x trailing P/E ratio appears expensive for a value-oriented ETF, especially when weighed against SPY's 26.86x P/E. However, my analysis reveals a 24% "discount to itself" based on its constituents' 5Y average P/E ratios. That discount is the 16th highest among 884 U.S. Size & Style ETFs.

Investors buy the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK) when they want concentrated exposure to disruptive innovation: electric vehicles, genomics, fintech, autonomy, and AI.

Warren Buffett built Berkshire Hathaway around the castle-and-moat metaphor, and the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (NYSEARCA:MOAT) tries to package that idea into a single ticker.

Launched on 04/24/2012, the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

Smart beta had a confusing first half of 2026, as momentum cooled after a strong 2025, low-volatility lagged a market that kept grinding higher, and dividend growth funds got squeezed by another leg up in yields.

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on April 24, 2012.

VanEck has appointed Kevin Gopaul as CEO of VanEck Canada. According to the press release, Gopaul brings more than 25 years of industry experience to the newly created role.

Goldman sees more upside as earnings stay strong and geopolitics fade. Here are ETF areas -- from broad market to clean energy -- to ride the rally.