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iShares Factor ETFs

FACTOR INVESTING

Factor ETFs employ the same persistent drivers of return as active managers, at a low-cost.

WHAT ARE FACTORS?

Factors are broad, persistent forces that have historically been seen to drive returns of stocks, bonds and other assets.


Factor investing leverages advancements in today’s data and technology to deliberately seek these historical return drivers in portfolios. Understanding how factors work could potentially help you capture investment returns and reduce risk. iShares Factor ETFs employ the same intuitive screens used by active managers for generations, but offer the low cost and tax efficiency of traditional ETFs.

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We're really excited to be marking the 10 year anniversary of helping investors with factors.

Our vision is that we can help all investors experience financial success with products just like the ones you see listed behind me right now. And it's our mission to use moments just like this, this 10 year celebration to grow awareness and help more and more investors experience that same degree of financial success.

For years and years, people have used factors as a strategic allocation to really dial in a portfolio for what's appropriate for their investment objective or their client's investment objective. If they have a client who wants to pursue greater expected returns, they know that they can use factors to gain that exposure. If they want to manage risk, they can use factors in order to manage the overall level of expected risk in a portfolio.

But we also see advisor using factors tactically. and that can be linked to market driven moments or moments in the particular in a particular market. Most recently, we've seen a lot of interest in products like like qual, where investors have a preference for companies that have higher quality levels of earnings. Or if there's an event coming up where

there's some degree of uncertainty of the outcome, we've seen investors take positions in our minimum volatility suite in order to manage the overall level of risk in the portfolio without necessarily leaving an asset class.

Regardless of the use case, be it strategic or tactical. We do. We, we, we believe that fact that investors prefer factors due to their systematic nature, their transparency and their cost effectiveness.

FACTORS SPOTLIGHT

TRY FACTORS ON FOR SIZE

When markets change, emotions run high. Use these tools to equip your clients with knowledge instead of fear. Analyze investments within a portfolio context in minutes & stress test portfolios to see how they might react against market events.

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Build a quality portfolio

This sample portfolio replaces traditional equity portfolio exposures with quality ETFs.

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Test an existing portfolio

Stress test client portfolios to see how they could react to 30+ potential market events.

EXPLORE FACTORS ETFS

We have identified five factors – value, quality, momentum, size, and minimum volatility – that have shown to be resilient across time, markets, asset classes, and have a strong economic rationale.

FACTOR INVESTING INSIGHTS

Quality Check

Oct 18, 2023 | Karen Veraa, CFA

Learn how a factor ETF like QUAL be used in portfolios to potentially reduce tax bills, lower costs, and deliver high quality exposure.

Quality abroad: A time-tested approach for international investing

Aug 10, 2023 | Robert Hum, CAIA

Get the latest insight on why international quality may make sense. Help clients understand the benefits of investing abroad and why quality investing can help add another source of returns.

A Sharper Lens – Factors & Sectors

Jul 10, 2023 | Andrew Ang, PhD

It’s not factors versus sectors. It’s factors and sectors. Factors can help investors better understand their portfolios.

iShares 2023 Midyear Outlook

Jul 6, 2023 | Gargi Pal Chaudhuri

Read the iShares 2023 midyear outlook and implementation guide offering our views on what lies ahead for the rest of the year and what investors should do.

Q1 2023 Factor Performance Report: Insights for Investors

Jun 24, 2023 | Robert Hum, CAIA

Get the latest insights on factors in Q1 of 2023. Our in-depth quarterly analysis breaks down by region and style-box to help you deliver the best solutions for your clients.

International Style

May 12, 2023 | Andrew Ang, PhD

Factor investing has seen increased popularity in the US. Investors may also want to consider increasing their opportunity set by considering factors abroad.

Rethink your volatility toolkit - quality & min vol

May 3, 2023 | Robert Hum, CAIA

Clients can maintain their long-term equity allocations and potentially add resilience to their portfolios with iShares tickers QUAL and USMV.

Quality Control

Apr 26, 2023 | Andrew Ang, PhD

Quality investing is not always exciting – but increased volatility and uncertainty in markets makes a compelling case for adding quality today.

Building resilience in the core with quality and min vol

Mar 28, 2023 | Robert Hum, CAIA

2023 volatility calls for portfolio protection. Learn how quality and minimum volatility exposures can potentially add resilience to portfolios during this period of market volatility.

Trends in factor investing in the 20th and 21st centuries

Feb 27, 2023 | Andrew Ang, PhD

Factor investing has evolved significantly over the 20th and 20th centuries. In this Angle, Andrew Ang investigates some of the key long and short-term trends.

iShares 2023 year-ahead investor guide

Dec 30, 2022 | Gargi Pal Chaudhuri

Persistent inflation and a hawkish Fed have forced a shift in markets: the era of low yields is ending. Our experts share what this means for diversification.

Multifactor – the Moneyball of Investing

Aug 18, 2022 | Robert Hum, CAIA

Learn how multifactor ETFs use differentiated sources of return to provide a consistent exposure to rewarded factors.

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