What Is EFG? iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF

In the United States, a growth index is a technology index with some consumer names attached. Outside it, the definition produces something quite different. EFG's largest sector is industrials at 28%, and the holdings show why: Schneider Electric, ABB and Rolls-Royce Holdings all sit in the top ten. These are electrical equipment, automation and aero engine businesses, categories a US investor would rarely file under growth.

The reason is that MSCI scores growth relative to the region, using measures such as long and short term forward earnings growth and historical sales trends. Europe and Japan have few large consumer internet companies, so the names with the strongest growth scores are industrial and healthcare businesses that happen to be expanding faster than their local peers. Technology at 22% is real but secondary, and it is a different kind of technology from the US variety.

ASML is 6.9% of the fund, more than two and a half times the next holding, AstraZeneca at 2.6%. Add Tokyo Electron at 1.9% and Kioxia at 1.6% and roughly a tenth of the fund sits in companies that make semiconductor manufacturing equipment or memory chips. SAP at 1.5% is the only large software position in the top ten.

This matters because it changes what drives the fund. Semiconductor capital equipment is one of the most cyclical parts of the technology industry: orders arrive in waves as chipmakers commit to new fabs, then pause. When that cycle turns, ASML alone moves the fund more than the next four holdings combined. Anyone treating EFG as a diversified international growth position should know that a single Dutch lithography company carries an outsized share of the outcome.

The rest of the top ten is a mix that resists easy labelling: Commonwealth Bank of Australia at 1.7% and UBS Group at 1.4% are both banks. They appear because MSCI's growth score is relative, and within their own markets these have been among the faster-growing large companies. It is a reminder that style indices classify by measurement, not by intuition.

EAFE means Europe, Australasia and the Far East. It excludes the United States, Canada, and every emerging market. So EFG holds nothing in China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil or Mexico, and nothing in Canada either, which is a common surprise. It also skews large: the EAFE parent index covers large and mid caps, so small companies are absent.

The 2.24% yield is high for anything labelled growth, and that is a structural feature of non-US markets rather than a signal about the holdings. European and Japanese companies distribute a larger proportion of earnings than their US counterparts, so even the growth half of the index pays more than a US growth fund would. At 0.34%, the fee is competitive for a style-sliced international fund, though broad EAFE exposure without the growth screen can be bought for less.

EFG is the wrong tool as a standalone international allocation, because it deliberately omits half the developed universe and all of the emerging one. It fits as a style tilt for someone who already holds broad international exposure and wants to lean toward faster-growing developed market companies, with the caveat that this particular fund's fortunes are unusually tied to semiconductor equipment.

Approximate weights as of August 2026. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.

There are three common ways to get EFG exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) of EFG directly at any major broker that lists it. Hold it as a core position and layer more concentrated ideas on top. Or build it into a thematic portfolio in Walnut, so EFG sits alongside other holdings that express the same thesis, with target weights you can rebalance toward. EFG trades like a stock during market hours, so you buy it the same way you would any listed share.

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Whether EFG is a good buy depends less on any single call and more on your time horizon and what you already hold: it tracks the MSCI EAFE Growth Index, so the real question is whether you want that exposure in your mix and at what weight. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is EFG a buy?

EFG gives you the MSCI EAFE Growth Index exposure in one ticker at a 0.34% expense ratio. Most investors use it as a core holding and layer more concentrated thematic portfolios on top.

Whether EFG is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is EFG a buy?

EFG yields 2.24% as of August 2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see EFG dividend: yield and schedule.

New to funds like EFG? Start with what an ETF is, then how to buy an ETF, or browse the full guide to ETF investing.