EWC: I Don’t See Canadian Stocks Outperforming Going Forward (Rating Downgrade)

Main Thesis & Background

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the iShares MSCI Canada ETF (NYSEARCA:EWC) as an investment option at its current market price. This is a fund that is exclusively focused on Canadian equities, with a bias towards large and medium-sized companies.

My followers know that EWC has been a foundational part of my non-US portfolio for many years. I have used developed stocks – both in Europe and North America – to balance out my US-centric portfolio, and that strategy has generally been favorable over time. However, when 2024 got underway, I continued to believe Canadian equities (and EWC by extension) was a smart way to deploy new cash. Looking back, I have made some gains with the fund, but those have been dwarfed by the return of the S&P 500:

Given this underperformance coupled with the uptick in equity market volatility, I…