iShares North American Natural Resources ETF (IGE)

As worldwide markets remain challenged amid a backdrop of higher interest rates and ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine, one thing has not changed. U.S. stocks are more expensive than global stocks. And that's the case even with the impressive returns from global stocks in the past 18 months. Consider P/E ratios. The trailing P/E ratio on the S&P 500 is now 25, above the global average of 17 and well above the 11-12 average P/Es for emerging markets stocks in China and Latin America. A review of yields tells a similar story. The current dividend yield for the S&P 500 is 1.0%, versus the global average of 2.1% and European and Latin American yields of 3%-4%. Investors generally are willing to pay a higher price for North American securities for several reasons, including the transparency of the U.S. financial system as well as the liquidity of U.S. markets. What's more, global returns can be volatile across individual countries, given currency, security, political, and geopolitical risks. Indeed, U.S. stocks (ETF SPY) have outperformed Europe, Australasia, and the Far East (EAFE, and ETF EFA) over the past five years. The tide turned a bit in 2025, as investors responded to the uncertainty over U.S. trade policy and as global central banks lowered rates. Last year, foreign stocks were up 28% while U.S. stocks rose 16%. Meanwhile, the outperformance of emerging markets over domestic markets has continued in 2026. Given expectations for improving economic growth in Europe and Japan in the months ahead, we think that diversified investors should have 20%-25% of their equity allocations in international stocks to take advantage of the value, and we have been adding global stocks to our Universe of Coverage.

Netflix Inc. is a worldwide video-on-demand distributor of movies and television shows over the internet (except in China and a few other countries). Subscribers have access to the Netflix content library for a fixed monthly subscription fee. The company offers several service tiers, including a discount, advertising-supported service. Netflix derives 59% of its revenue from outside the U.S. On November 14, 2025, Netflix effectuated a 10-for-1 stock split.

Netflix’s relatively simple business model involves only one business, its streaming service. It has the biggest television entertainment subscriber base in both the United States and the collective international market, with more than 325 million subscribers globally. Netflix has exposure to nearly the entire global population outside of China. The firm has traditionally avoided a regular slate of live programming or sports content, instead focusing on on-demand access to episodic television, movies, and documentaries. The firm introduced ad-supported subscription plans in 2022, giving the firm exposure to the advertising market in addition to the subscription fees that have historically accounted for nearly all its revenue.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is the world's largest dedicated chip foundry, with about 70% market share in 2025. TSMC was founded in 1987 as a joint venture of Philips, the government of Taiwan, and private investors. It went public in Taiwan in 1994 and as an ADR in the US in 1997. TSMC's scale and high-quality technology allow the firm to generate solid operating margins, even in the highly competitive foundry business. Furthermore, the shift to the fabless business model has created tailwinds for TSMC. The foundry leader has an illustrious base of customers, including Apple, AMD, and Nvidia, that look to apply its cutting-edge process technologies to their semiconductor designs. TSMC employs more than 91,353 people as of Feb. 28, 2026.