Funds That Can Win in a Resurgent France

Even the attitudes of most French citizens seem out of synch with free markets. A 2005 poll of people in 20 countries by GlobeScan found that only 36% of the French believe that "the free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world." That compared with 74% of Chinese respondents who agreed with the phrase.

While returns on French stocks have been generally positive in recent years, they have frequently trailed the gains generated by stocks of other major euro zone nations. For example, the iShares MSCI France (EWQ Quote) exchange traded fund advanced 12.18% during the first half of 2007, but still trailed the 23.26% rise by the iShares MSCI Germany (EWG Quote) ETF.

Similarly, the French ETF's impressive 29.95% total return for the 12-months ended June 30 was trounced by the German ETF's surge of 47.15% for the period. For the past three years, the score was for a 28.53% annual return for the German ETF vs. 23.52% for its French counterpart.

Of course, for U.S. investors, the returns on both French and German investments have been boosted by the steady rise of the euro relative to the dollar.

The iShares MSCI France ETF is the only pure play on the French market among U.S. ETFs and open-end and closed-end mutual funds. The table below lists some other ETFs, open-end funds and a single closed-end fund that allocate at least 20% of their assets to French securities.

Vive La France Funds that allocate at least 20% of assets to French securities
Name, Ticker & TheStreet.com Ratings Grade*	No. of French Holdngs	Allocation to French Stocks	Value of French Holdings ($MIL)	3-Mo Total Return (%)	12-Mo Total Return (%)
OPEN-END FUNDS
Dreyfus Premier Wrldwde Growth A (PGROX) C+	7	26.7	206.2	6.0	22.0
TA IDEX MFS International Equity A (ICIAX) D-	12	25.2	8.3	5.5	24.0
Causeway International Value Inv (CIVVX) A+	11	24.2	1,318.4	7.1	26.0
PL Intl Large-Cap Fund A (PAGGX) B	12	24.1	18.8	4.7	23.0
MFS Inst Intl Equity Fund (MIEIX) A	12	23.4	584.2	5.2	25.0
USAA International Fund (USIFX) B+	12	22.5	337.2	5.2	24.4
MSIF Syst Active Small Cap Value B (MYMBX) U	9	21.8	122.8	2.0	15.2
First Eagle Overseas Fund A (SGOVX) B	33	20.8	2,445.4	3.7	18.4
TIAA-CREF Inst Intl Equity Retire (TRERX) B	8	20.5	303.2	6.8	33.4
EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS
iShares MSCI France (EWQ) A+	57	100.00	184.7	9.15	29.95
DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF (FEZ) A+	18	33.07	145.8	10.37	32.71
iShares MSCI EMU (EZU) A+	53	29.58	750.1	8.97	36.41
Market Vectors Environment Ind ETF (EVX) U	2	21.15	7.1	14.06
CLOSED-END FUND
The European Equity Fund (EEA) B+	14	30.90	54.7	9.46	32.49
*U=Unrated TheStreet.com Ratings (data as of 6/30/2007).