Most international small cap funds simply weight companies by size, but the iShares International Small Cap Equity Factor ETF, ticker ISCF, takes a different approach, tilting its roughly 1,187 holdings toward stocks with favorable exposure to specific style factors rather than tracking the broader market as is. 

Managed by BlackRock with $684 million in assets, the fund charges a 0.24% expense ratio and currently yields 3.52% on a trailing 12 month basis. Diversification runs deep here, with the top 10 holdings accounting for barely 6% of total assets. 

That broad spread has translated into solid recent performance, with the fund up roughly 12.6% year to date and 16.1% over the past year, while carrying a beta of 0.81 and a three year standard deviation just above 15%, putting it in medium risk territory for the category. 

Finsum: Factor tilt spread could be the play in the age of AI overweight.