While investors have fled emerging markets over the past few sessions. valuations look promising in that space, which means you should think about jumping in through more targeted ETFs.

That was among the points made Monday by a panel of strategists who talked about emerging markets at ETF.coms Inside ETFs conference.

The panelists also emphasized that this week is critical for emerging markets, pointing to an emergency meeting on Tuesday for Turkeys central bank.

I think you go home, you spend some time historically looking at the valuations of EM versus other assets, said Marten Hoekstra, CEO at Emerging Global Advisors, known for funds like the EG Emerging Markets Consumer ETF /quotes/zigman/1553424/delayed /quotes/nls/econ ECON .

After doing the homework, investors then might want to buy into some plays that are more diversified than conventional benchmarks, Hoekstra said. Others participating in the panel also said its time to start looking beyond broad EM ETFs like the iShares Emerging Markets ETF /quotes/zigman/322623/delayed /quotes/nls/eem EEM or the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF /quotes/zigman/1490180/delayed /quotes/nls/vwo VWO .

Michael Orzano of S&P Dow Jones Indices said there are problems with conventional, cap-weighted plays being too exposed to specific countries or sectors. He said theres been a push to address that issue, such as his companys launch of its S&P Emerging Markets Core Index, whose related ETF is the EGShares Emerging Markets Core ETF /quotes/zigman/12252897/delayed /quotes/nls/emcr EMCR. But so far investors havent exactly stampeded to the growing number of more-targeted EM ETFs.

The index innovation is far ahead of where allocators are, where decision makers are, said Orzano, whose title is associate director of global equity indices. After the panel discussion, he said in an interview that the recent EM sell-off might spur interest in the more-targeted products, which range from the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF /quotes/zigman/511992/delayed /quotes/nls/ewx EWX to the PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Low Volatility ETF /quotes/zigman/8083237/delayed /quotes/nls/eelv EELV

It makes people think a little bit more about what theyre doing in EM, Orzano told MarketWatch.

In the panel discussion, Emerging Globals Hoekstra said EM plays could drop another 5% or 10%. But he also said that their valuations are getting to the point where historically you would really want to own EM.

This is a make-or-break week for emerging markets, said Benoit Anne, heading of emerging market strategy at Societe Generale. He said hell watch to see if Turkeys central bank can do a good job to allay concerns at its emergency meeting on Tuesday.

Beyond the near term, I would say the case for emerging markets is still solid, the SocGen strategist added.

Victor Reklaitis

Follow Vic on Twitter @vicrek

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