Why This Middle Eastern ETF Could Outperform in 2012

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, the iShares MSCI Israel Capped Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE: EIS ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at iShares MSCI Israel and see what CAPS investors are saying about the ETF right now.

iShares MSCI Israel facts

Inception	March 2008
Total Assets	$75.5 million
Investment Approach	Seeks to replicate the MSCI Israel Capped Investable Market Index, which measures the performance of Israeli equity market and caps all component companies' weights at 24%.
Expense Ratio	0.61%
3-Month / 1-Year / 3-Year Returns	(0.5%) / (31.3%) / 14.6%
Top Holdings with High CAPS Rating (4 or 5 Stars) and Portfolio Weight	Teva Pharmaceutical (Nasdaq: TEVA ) (23.5%) Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL ) (2.1%) Partner Communications (Nasdaq: PTNR ) (1.8%)
Alternatives	SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa (NYSE: GAF ) Market Vectors Gulf States Index (NYSE: MES )

Sources: Morningstar and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, all 27 members who have rated iShares MSCI Israel believe the ETF will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include Montserrat25 and jwebbzor.

Having gotten on board a couple of years ago, Montserrat25 tapped Israel as a particularly potent place to invest:

Wish I could change time frame on this call to 'forever'. I love the country, companies and the people. ... A bright future remains for Israel after this global recession.

iShares MSCI Israel, in particular, sports a juicy trailing dividend yield of 4.2%. That's higher than that of other Middle East ETFs like SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa (2.3%) and Market Vectors Gulf States (1.1%).

CAPS member jwebbzor expands on the tailwinds working in the ETF's favor:

We are moving into the next stage of the information/computing age. Israel with its strong concentration on R&D and high tech industry, will fare well. Wars? Bah, there will always be wars.

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Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Teva. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Teva and Cellcom Israel. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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