Credit: Shutterstock photoDesigned to provide broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market, the iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF (CRBN) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 12/08/2014.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Blackrock. CRBN has been able to amass assets over $534.92 M, making it one of the larger ETFs in the World ETFs. CRBN seeks to match the performance of the MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index before fees and expenses.
The MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index is designed to address two dimensions of carbon exposure ? carbon emissions and potential carbon emissions from fossil fuel reserves.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.20%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
CRBN's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 2.14%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL) accounts for about 2.45% of the fund's total assets, followed by Amazon Com Inc (AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT).
The top 10 holdings account for about 11.32% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, the ETF has added about 2.79%, and was up about 8.66% in the last one year (as of 09/17/2018). CRBN has traded between $111.65 and $125.90 in the past 52-week period.
CRBN has a beta of 0.98 and standard deviation of 11.80% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a low choice in the space. With about 1224 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
IShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the World ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF (SUSA) tracks MSCI USA ESG Select Index and the iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF (DSI) tracks MSCI KLD 400 Social Index. IShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF has $790.55 M in assets, iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF has $1.25 B. SUSA has an expense ratio of 0.25% and DSI charges 0.25%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the World ETFs.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center .
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ISHARS-M L CRBN (CRBN): ETF Research Reports
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report
ISHARS-KLD 400 (DSI): ETF Research Reports
ISHARS-USA ESG (SUSA): ETF Research Reports
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
