ETF Research Center

iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index Fund is an exchange-traded fund incorporated in the USA. The Fund seeks to track the performance of the MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index.

FUND BASICS
Category	US Equities
Fund Sponsor	BlackRock Fund Advisors
Website	www.ishares.com
Inception date	Oct 20, 2011
Assets (mns)	$38,532
Currency	USD
Expense ratio	15 bp
Distributions	Quarterly

FUND STRUCTURE
Regulation	Open-Ended Fund
Custodian	State Street Bank & Trust
Weighting	Multi-Factor
Index replication	n/a
Uses derivatives	No
Options available	Yes

SECTOR BREAKDOWN

CONSTITUENT BREAKDOWN
No. of constituents	210
Wgt avg mkt cap (mns)	$112,969
Large cap (>$10bn)	94.6%
Mid cap ($2-10bn)	5.4%
Small cap (<$2bn)	0.0%
Developed mkts	100.0%
Emerging mkts	0.0%

TOP TEN HOLDINGS
Total	15.0 %
NEWMONT MINING CORP	1.6 %
VISA INC-CLASS A SHARES	1.6 %
MCDONALD'S CORP	1.5 %
COCA-COLA CO/THE	1.5 %
PEPSICO INC	1.5 %
NEXTERA ENERGY GROUP	1.5 %
WASTE MANAGEMENT INC	1.5 %
REPUBLIC SERVICES INC	1.5 %
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC	1.4 %
YUM! BRANDS INC	1.3 %

TOP COUNTRY EXPOSURE
	UNITED STATES	91.7 %
	IRELAND	2.4 %
	BERMUDA	2.0 %
	SWITZERLAND	1.3 %
	BRITAIN	1.3 %
	CANADA	1.1 %

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE info

	Custom date range	Compare to
	thru

Standardized Annual Returns (thru December 31)
Year-to-date	1 year	5 years	10 years	Since Incep.
27.7%	27.7%	12.4%	--	14.3%

Market Correlations
versus...	Beta	R-squared
S&P500	0.64	81%
MSCI EAFE	0.55	50%
MSCI Emg. Mkts.	0.35	35%

Technical Indicators
Recent close	$67.91
30d moving avg.	$65.75
Annualized volatility	8.6%
Short interest (ETF)	0.0%
Short interest (Underlying)	2.4%
Relative strength (RSI)	78

Liquidity measures
Avg. volume (thou.)	2,881
Turnover	0.5%
Bid/Ask (% of price)	0.02%
ADV underlying (mns)	$69,369

Distributions

FINDING ALTERNATIVE FUNDS

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

Benchmark ticker:

USMV

Expense:

15 bp

ALTAR Score™:

4.9%

ALTERNATIVE ETFs BASED ON OVERLAP WITH USMV
Ticker	Fund Name	Overlap¹ vs USMV (%)	Expense ratio (bp)	Savings vs USMV (bp)	ALTAR Score™ (%)	ALTAR vs USMV (%)
QUS	SPDR MSCI USA Quality Mix	55.7	15	0	5.6	+0.7
FDLO	Fidelity Low Volatility Factor	52.8	29	-14	5.0	+0.1
HUSV	First Trust Horizon Managed Volatility Domestic	50.7	70	-55	4.7	-0.3
LGLV	SPDR Russell 1000 Low Volatility	49.3	12	3	5.0	+0.0
SPLV	Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility	48.9	25	-10	5.0	+0.1
ACWV	iShares MSCI World Minimum Volatility	48.7	20	-5	5.4	+0.4
LVUS	Hartford Multifactor Low Volatility US Equity	47.4	21	-6	5.6	+0.6
RBUS	Nationwide Risk-Based U.S. Equity	46.6	30	-15	5.8	+0.8
OVOL	Invesco Russell 1000 Low Volatility Factor ETF	46.6	19	-4	5.3	+0.4
JMIN	JPMorgan U.S. Minimum Volatility	46.2	12	3	5.3	+0.3
DYNF	BlackRock U.S. Equity Factor Rotation	45.5	30	-15	6.2	+1.3
DEF	Invesco Defensive Equity	45.3	59	-44	4.6	-0.3
FLLV	Franklin Liberty U.S. Low Volatility	42.9	29	-14	5.1	+0.1
ROUS	Lattice U.S. Equity Strategy ETF	42.2	19	-4	6.1	+1.2
LSLT	Salt Low truBeta US Market	41.4	0	15	6.4	+1.5
MMTM	SPDR S&P1500 Momentum Tilt	40.9	12	3	5.0	+0.1
PBP	Invesco S&P 500 Buy/Write	40.6	49	-34	5.2	+0.3
XRLV	Invesco S&P 500 ex-Rate Sensitive Low Volatility	40.2	25	-10	5.7	+0.8
GSLC	Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity	39.8	9	6	5.7	+0.8
SPY	S&P 500 SPDR	39.7	9	6	5.5	+0.6

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

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019E	2020E
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

	2018	2019E	2020E
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 Minimum Volatility
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	16.7	%
Divided by: Fwd. P/BV	3.3	x
Less: Expense ratio	15	bp
Equals: ALTAR Score	4.9	%

More information on ALTAR Score™

MODERN PORTFOLIO THEORY info

CONSENSUS RECOMMENDATIONS: FUND CONSTITUENTS

COMPOSITE RATING	1.60	CATEGORY AVERAGE	1.55

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.