"When you have that terrific equity price and your business slows down a little bit, it's not surprising that the stock price comes down as dramatically as it has," said New York-based equity analyst Macrae Sykes of Gabelli & Co.
He said the sell-off in emerging markets has created "intermediate headwinds" for the company, but he sees the impact as short term.
Analysts tracked by Reuters have a median target price of $17 for WisdomTree, an approximately 35 percent increase from its current trading price of $12.58. Of the 11 analysts who cover the company, six rate it a buy or equivalent, while only Citi rates it a sell.
More Diversification Eyed
WisdomTree is also known for its family of dividend ETFs, which have been strong performers and provide a smaller counterweight to its other funds. Its largest dividend ETF, the WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend Fund, added some $537.9 million in assets in 2013 and gained 24 percent last year.
Still, WisdomTree will need to continue to build out its ETF franchise to attract assets from more than a few key channels, analysts have said.
That way, a retreat in one region, such as the recent pullback in Japan markets, will not have such a large impact on the asset manager.
To that end, the company said in January it would be spending $20 million to take a majority stake in UK-based exchange-traded products provider Boost, a sign that the company is eyeing the European market for growth.
Europe, with roughly $9 trillion in invested assets, is the world's second-largest retail mutual fund market after the United States. ETFs make up only about 5 percent of invested assets in Europe, compared with a 13 percent in the United States.
Hougan said, "a sustainable business is going to come when they have five or 10 funds that (each) get $100 million every month."