On Friday, iShares launched three new funds targeting the 200 largest firms in the Russell Index, a group that comprises approximately 65% of the U.S. market. The funds are:
- Russell Top 200 Index Fund (IWL),
- Russell Top 200 Growth Index Fund (IWY), and
- Russell Top 200 Value Index Fund (IWX).
With the addition of these three funds, iShares raises the number of funds based on various Russell indexes to 16.
The Russell Top 200 Index Fund is a subset of the Russell 1000, and is heavy in well known firms such as Exxon Mobil, Procter and Gamble, and Apple. The Russell 1000 is dominated by large cap companies – the average market cap is $91 billion – and it is overweight in technology and healthcare firms.
The Russell Top 200 Growth Index fund has companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. Companies in this index tend to be in the technology or healthcare sectors and include well known firms such as IBM and Johnson & Johnson
The Russell Top 200 Value Index fund measures the performance of the largest stocks in the U.S. equity universe with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth values. These firms include Pfizer and JP Morgan, and the fund is slightly skewed towards financial and energy firms.
Below is a quick comparison between the funds:
| Ticker | Avg. Market Cap | Price/Book | Dividend Yield | Largest Holding | Largest Sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IWL | $91.1billion | 2.25 | 2.12% | Exxon Mobil | Technology |
| IWY | $90.6 billion | 3.63 | 1.86% | Microsoft | Technology |
| IWX | $91.5 billion | 1.61 | 2.38% | Exxon Mobil | Financial Services |
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