BlackRock Introduces Three iShares ETFs to Customize Exposure to U.S. Large Caps

UC Investments (University of California) committed as an early investor of the iShares Nasdaq Top 30 Stocks ETF (QTOP)

The increasing prominence of mega-cap stocks in recent years underscores the critical need for investors to modernize the way they capture growth of some of the world’s most well-known companies. Today, BlackRock announced the launch of three new ETFs to empower investors with simple solutions to express more granular views on the largest companies listed in the U.S.

The new ETFs are part of the iShares Build ETFs – a new toolkit to provide investors with portfolio building blocks to customize their U.S. market cap exposure with the convenience and flexibility of an ETF. The iShares Top 20 U.S. Stocks ETF (NYSE:TOPT), iShares Nasdaq Top 30 Stocks ETF (Nasdaq:QTOP), and iShares Nasdaq-100 ex-Top 30 ETF (Nasdaq:QNXT) – join established ETFs, iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF (EUSA) and iShares S&P 100 ETF (OEF), to broaden easy access to manage U.S. equity exposure.

“The iShares Build ETFs help investors harness the power of growth and innovation within the largest U.S. companies in a precise way,” said Rachel Aguirre, U.S. Head of iShares Products at BlackRock. “Now is the time for investors to rethink their market exposure and how they can aim to capitalize on the growth potential of these companies.”

“The beauty of these ETFs is that they can be used by investors looking for more targeted exposure to mega caps or those looking to broaden their exposure to large, well-known companies,” added Rachel Aguirre.

The U.S. capital market has undergone significant transformation in the past two decades, but there are limited new solutions to help investors better manage their market cap exposure. In 2000, the entire U.S. stock market was valued at $15 trillion. Fast forward to today, the largest eight companies alone are worth $15 trillion. More importantly, the top 20 largest companies in the S&P 500 Index have contributed more than two-thirds (68%) of the Index’s return over the past three years, demonstrating their ability to drive outsized stock market returns.1

The ability to easily access or customize U.S. market cap exposure in an ETF is pertinent to various investor types – including first-time investors, model builders, institutional investors, and especially financial advisors, as their portfolios are meaningfully underweight mega-cap stocks.2

“iShares Build ETFs extend BlackRock’s effort to democratize easy access to investment opportunities,” said Jagdeep Singh Bachher, the University of California’s Chief Investment Officer. “At the University of California, we believe in empowering individual investors, particularly young investors, with straight-forward tools to gain exposure to innovative companies that are poised to grow. That’s why we are pleased to be an early investor in QTOP, which allows investors big and small to easily add growth companies to their portfolios.”

1 FactSet, as of 9/20/2024. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

2 BlackRock, as of 8/31/2024. Based on a BlackRock study of 23,000 model portfolios. Morningstar, BlackRock, Aladdin as of 7/31/24. For illustrative purposes only. Analysis based on 22,983 portfolios. These attributes are calculated for each portfolio as a weighted average of the underlying holdings. The portfolio-level metrics are then averaged in each risk profile cohort to arrive at the numbers presented. Allocations are calculated using only models that contain at least one product from that category. “Broad Equity Benchmark” is represented by a hypothetical blended benchmark of 75% S&P 1500 TR index and 25% MSCI ACWI ex USA IMI NR index.