ETF Talk: Profit with the Poles

“It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness and a mood of helplessness prevail.”

— Lech Walesa

As Poland’s Nobel laureate and former President Lech Walesa put it, we cannot dwell in the wake of the current uncertainty and ever-changing reality of tariffs.

I have been clear in my distaste for the import taxes, which is a synonym for tariffs, that the Trump administration had planned to implement since the very beginning, and I have not changed my tune.

However, instead, like other smart investors, I am taking the high road and continuing to search for wealth-building opportunities, frustration aside.

Due to wariness about tariffs and the American market, we are now seeing a trend abroad towards European countries with emerging economies. One such economy is Poland, and investors are not the only ones with their sights set on the Eastern European nation.

Technology giant Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) signed a deal there to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and the country is already Alphabet’s largest engineering hub.

These developments bring us to my ETF portrait this week, the iShares MSCI Poland ETF (EPOL).

EPOL gives individuals a chance to diversify their portfolio without having to pick specific foreign stocks.

The year-to-date return is a whopping 46.14% and the fund has a P/E ratio of 12.25. EPOL has a little under half of its holdings in the financial sector (48.09%), 13.68% in consumer cyclical, 9.98% in energy, 6.79% in communication services, 6.60% in consumer defensive, 6.13% in basic materials, 4.74% in utilities, 2.18% in technology, and 2.11% in industrials.

Chart courtesy of www.stockcharts.com

The chart above speaks for itself, painting the picture of money moving overseas to the Poles. With a dip just before the April 2 “Liberation Day,” EPOL has been trending higher since the start of 2025, reaching its highest point in the last year.

Exclusive ETF Talk: Finding Value in Your Brokerage

Despite a cool-down in implemented tariffs, investing outside of the United States is still very much on investors’ minds. Poland’s economy did better than forecast last year, creating momentum for Polish stocks to shine.

Note: investors should always do their due diligence before adding any stock, fund or ETF to one’s portfolio.

Finally, I am happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to send me an email. You just may see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.

Jim Woods

Jim Woods is a 20-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor. Jim is the editor of Forecasts & Strategies, Tactical Trader, TNT Trader, Five Star Trader, Bullseye Stock Trader, and The Deep Woods. His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others. Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology. The independent firm TipRanks rates Jim the No. 3 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 6,000). TipRanks calculates that, since 2012, he's made 361 successful recommendations out of 499 total, earning a success rate of 72% and a +15.3% average return per recommendation. He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding. Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.