The iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF (CRBN) made its debut on 12/08/2014, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you’re the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking 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.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Blackrock, and has been able to amass over $412.66 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the World ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target Index.
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
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.20%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.11%.
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.
When you look at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL) accounts for about 3.25% of the fund’s total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Amazon Com Inc (AMZN).
The top 10 holdings account for about 14.96% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -5.39% so far this year and is up roughly 2.71% in the last one year (as of 07/02/2020). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $89.44 and $133.75.
The ETF has a beta of 0.96 and standard deviation of 20.31% for the trailing three-year period, making it a low risk choice in the space. With about 1395 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 ESG MSCI EM ETF (ESGE) tracks MSCI Emerging Markets ESG Focus Index and the iShares ESG MSCI USA ETF (ESGU) tracks MSCI USA ESG Focus Index. IShares ESG MSCI EM ETF has $3.20 billion in assets, iShares ESG MSCI USA ETF has $7.06 billion. ESGE has an expense ratio of 0.25% and ESGU charges 0.15%.
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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