Developed, Emerging Markets Meet in ETF

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index Fund(AAXJ) was one of six exchange traded funds newly covered by TheStreet.com that received a top rating of "excellent," equating to a "buy."

After one year in business, that ETF has accumulated almost $1.1 billion in total assets to invest in stocks of developed- and emerging-market countries of China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

The fund gives investors exposure to non-U.S. markets. Holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor(TSM), Chunghwa Telecom(CHT), China Mobile(CHL), KB Financial Group(KB) and Posco(PKX).

Also in the "buy" range were two exchange traded notes, or ETNs, ELEMENTS Benjamin Graham Total Market Value ETN(BVT) and ELEMENTS Benjamin Graham Small Cap Value ETN(BSC).

Both funds are tied to Benjamin Graham indexes of companies with strong, liquid balance sheets trading at a discount to implied intrinsic value. The indexes use Graham's value-investing philosophy, published in 1934 with David Dodd in Security Analysis.

The seven most important factors for being included in these indexes are earnings quality, valuation ratios, forward price-to-earnings, dividend yield, profitability, debt and the liquidity to service that debt, and measurements relative to a company's industry peers.

Newly Rated Exchange Traded Funds Fund (Ticker) Rating Total Return 1 Year Inception Date iShares MSCI All Cntry Asia ex Jap (AAXJ) A+ 9.62% 8/13/2008 ELEMENTS BG Total Market Value ETN (BVT) B -8.78% 8/6/2008 ELEMENTS BG Small Cap Value ETN (BSC) B -7.62% 8/6/2008 Market Vector RVE Hard Asset Prducr (HAP) C -16.95% 8/29/2008 ELEMENTS BG Large Cap Value ETN (BVL) C- -13.17% 8/6/2008 Claymore/Delta Glb Shipping Index (SEA) D- -43.44% 8/25/2008 Source: TheStreet.com Ratings Data as of most recent month-end

Funds rated A or B are considered "buy" based on a track record of higher-than-average risk-adjusted performance. Funds at the C level are "hold," while underperformers at the D and E levels rank as "sell."

For more information, check out an explanation of our ratings.

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