ETF Research Center

The iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index that measures the performance of U.S. large- and mid-capitalization stocks as identified through three fundamental variables: return on equity, earnings variability and financial leverage.

FUND BASICS
Category	US Equities
Fund Sponsor	BlackRock Fund Advisors
Website	www.ishares.com
Inception date	Jul 18, 2013
Assets (mns)	$17,884
Currency	USD
Expense ratio	15 bp
Distributions	Quarterly

FUND STRUCTURE
Regulation	Open-Ended Fund
Custodian	State Street Bank & Trust Co
Weighting	Fundamental
Index replication	Full
Uses derivatives	No
Options available	Yes

SECTOR BREAKDOWN

CONSTITUENT BREAKDOWN
No. of constituents	125
Wgt avg mkt cap (mns)	$273,060
Large cap (>$10bn)	97.2%
Mid cap ($2-10bn)	2.8%
Small cap (<$2bn)	0.0%
Developed mkts	100.0%
Emerging mkts	0.0%

TOP TEN HOLDINGS
Total	32.6 %
JOHNSON & JOHNSON	4.0 %
MICROSOFT CORP	3.8 %
APPLE INC	3.8 %
PEPSICO INC	3.8 %
FACEBOOK	3.5 %
MASTERCARD INC-CLASS A	3.4 %
VISA INC-CLASS A SHARES	3.0 %
NIKE INC -CL B	2.7 %
3M CO	2.5 %
MERCK & CO. INC.	2.1 %

TOP COUNTRY EXPOSURE
	UNITED STATES	97.1 %
	IRELAND	1.6 %
	BRITAIN	0.8 %
	SWITZERLAND	0.2 %

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE info

	Custom date range	Compare to
	thru

Standardized Annual Returns (thru January 31)
Year-to-date	1 year	5 years	10 years	Since Incep.
-0.7%	22.8%	12.4%	--	13.7%

Market Correlations
versus...	Beta	R-squared
S&P500	1.00	97%
MSCI EAFE	0.90	65%
MSCI Emg. Mkts.	0.59	49%

Technical Indicators
Recent close	$104.74
30d moving avg.	$103.38
Annualized volatility	12.3%
Short interest (ETF)	0.0%
Short interest (Underlying)	2.2%
Relative strength (RSI)	60

Liquidity measures
Avg. volume (thou.)	1,037
Turnover	0.6%
Bid/Ask (% of price)	0.02%
ADV underlying (mns)	$54,502

Distributions

FINDING ALTERNATIVE FUNDS

Below is a list of 20 potential alternatives to the iShares MSCI Usa Quality Factor ETF ETF based on the alternatives' overlap in portfolio holdings with QUAL. Consider funds with lower expense ratios and/or higher ALTAR Score™ ratings as possible alternatives.

Benchmark ticker:

QUAL

Expense:

15 bp

ALTAR Score™:

5.6%

ALTERNATIVE ETFs BASED ON OVERLAP WITH QUAL
Ticker	Fund Name	Overlap¹ vs QUAL (%)	Expense ratio (bp)	Savings vs QUAL (bp)	ALTAR Score™ (%)	ALTAR vs QUAL (%)
OQAL	Invesco Russell 1000 Quality Factor ETF	51.4	19	-4	6.0	+0.4
SPHQ	Invesco S&P 500 Quality	46.4	15	0	5.7	+0.1
QARP	Xtrackers Russell 1000 US QARP	43.7	19	-4	6.3	+0.7
QUS	SPDR MSCI USA Quality Mix	42.9	15	0	5.7	+0.1
JQUA	JPMorgan U.S. Quality Factor	42.7	12	3	5.6	+0.0
OMFL	Oppenheimer Russell 1000 Dynamic Multifactor	40.6	29	-14	8.7	+3.1
SPUS	SP Funds S&P 500 Sharia Industry Exclusions	39.9	49	-34	4.8	-0.8
FQAL	Fidelity Quality Factor	39.0	29	-14	5.5	-0.1
IWY	iShares Russell Top 200 Growth	39.0	20	-5	4.6	-1.0
OVOL	Invesco Russell 1000 Low Volatility Factor ETF	38.8	19	-4	6.6	+1.0
DSI	iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social	38.0	25	-10	5.3	-0.3
OUSA	O'Shares FTSE U.S. Quality Dividend	37.5	48	-33	5.9	+0.3
VONG	Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth	37.4	8	7	4.7	-0.9
IWF	iShares Russell 1000 Growth	37.4	19	-4	4.5	-1.1
SUSL	iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders	36.9	10	5	5.4	-0.2
USSG	Xtrackers MSCI USA ESG Leaders Equity	36.9	10	5	5.4	-0.2
FLQL	Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity	36.2	15	0	6.5	+1.0
QLC	FlexShares US Quality Large Cap	36.2	32	-17	6.0	+0.4
ESGU	iShares MSCI USA ESG Optimized	36.0	15	0	5.3	-0.3
SPXN	ProShares S&P 500 Ex-Financials	35.9	27	-12	5.5	-0.1

¹Overlap is the percentage of holdings by weight that are identical. For example, if Fund A has a 2% position in Apple, Inc. (AAPL) and Fund B has a 5% position, their overlapping position in AAPL is 2%.

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RESULTS & ESTIMATES

	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020E	2021E
Sales per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Earnings per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Dividends per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**
Book value per share	**	**	**	**	**	**	**

Sales per share growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%
EPS growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%

Sales per share growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%
EPS growth		**%	**%	**%	**%	**%	**%

OTHER FUNDAMENTAL METRICS

Long term EPS growth est.	**%		Debt-to-equity	**x
Asset turnover	**%		Assets-to-equity	**x

Return on equity

Revision activity*

*Six months ago = 100

Net margins

Compound annual growth rates

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VALUATION METRICS

	2019	2020E	2021E
Price-to-sales	**	**	**
Price-to-earnings	**	**	**
Price-to-cash flow	**	**	**
Price-to-growth	**	**	**
Price-to-book value	**	**	**
Yield	**	**	**

Historical valuation trends

Forward multiple:	iShares MSCI Usa Quality Factor ETF
Relative to:	S&P500	MSCI EAFE	MSCI Emg. Mkts.	Other ETF:

NEUTRAL

Average appreciation potential. A rating of NEUTRAL is assigned to ETFs with ALTAR Scores in the middle quintile (ranking between 40%-60%) of their category. This indicates that valuations adequately reflect the fundamentals of stocks in these funds.

ALTAR Score™

Calculation of ALTAR Score™
Avg. Return on Equity	25.1	%
Divided by: Fwd. P/BV	4.4	x
Less: Expense ratio	15	bp
Equals: ALTAR Score	5.6	%

More information on ALTAR Score™

MODERN PORTFOLIO THEORY info

CONSENSUS RECOMMENDATIONS: FUND CONSTITUENTS

COMPOSITE RATING	1.55	CATEGORY AVERAGE	1.56

The composite rating is a weighted average of analysts' consensus recommendations for individual ETF constituents, based on the following scale: BUY = 1; OVERWEIGHT = 1.5, HOLD = 2; UNDERWEIGHT = 2.5; and SELL = 3. Readers are cautioned that because analyst ratings tend to be inflated, the composite score may be more useful as a relative measure of sentiment between funds rather than as a stand-alone recommendation.