iShares U.S. Small-Cap Equity Factor ETF
$84.87−0.80 (−0.93%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.15%
- Fund size
- $4.1B
- 1Y return
- +15.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 0.99%
- Holdings
- 969
- Volume · 30D
- 0.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $85.35
- 52W range
The ETF.net SMLF Grade
Score 72 of 100 sits in the A band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.AScore 83Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 87Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 27Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 66Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 76Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 89Category rank
Our read on SMLF
AFour factors (value, quality, momentum, low volatility) applied to roughly 900 U.S. small caps for 0.15% a year. Small-cap factor investing at a plain-index price, from the biggest ETF shop on the street.
The Fund tracks an index of U.S. small-cap stocks selected for favorable exposure to style factors under constraints. Its rules-based index targets momentum, quality, value, and low volatility while controlling industry exposure, turnover, and risk relative to the parent index.
Why people hold it
- 0.15% a year, less than half the typical fee in its multifactor peer group. The tilts aren't being eaten by the price of admission.
- Roughly 900 small caps picked on value, quality, momentum and low volatility, with industry weights, turnover and risk held close to the parent index. Tilts, not bets.ishares.com
- Trading since 2015 and now a billion-dollar-plus fund: one of the strongest implementations in a multifactor field that leans heavily large-cap.
- Rules-based and index-tracked, so the portfolio follows a published methodology rather than a manager's mood. Pays out quarterly.
Worth knowing
- Small caps swing harder than blue chips. The low-volatility screen softens the ride; it doesn't flatten it.
- Stacking four factors means the holdings rarely look like a plain small-cap index, so results can drift from it in either direction for long stretches.
- Moderately traded rather than a tape heavyweight, so spreads deserve a glance before you hit the button.
SMLF Holdings
- Stocks
- 969
- 9%
- DXPE
Sectors
- Technology18.6%
- Industrials17.3%
- Health Care15.4%
- Financials14.7%
- Consumer Discr.11.5%
- Real Estate5.6%
- Energy4.6%
- Materials4.4%
- Communication3.0%
- Cons. Staples3.0%
- Utilities1.9%
Geography
- United States92.62%
- Bermuda1.50%
- United Kingdom1.49%
- Puerto Rico0.98%
- Israel0.87%
- Cayman Islands0.64%
- Ireland0.64%
- Brazil0.36%
- 0.91%
SMLF Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | SMLF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +15.3% |
| 1 month | −3.8% |
| 3 months | −1.7% |
| 1 year | +15.1% |
| 3 years | +19.9% |
| 5 years | +10.9% |
| 10 years | +11.6% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | SMLF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +15.3% | |
| 2025 | +12.3% | |
| 2024 | +16.3% | |
| 2023 | +20.0% | |
| 2022 | −12.2% | |
| 2021 | +26.5% | |
| 2020 | +8.4% |
SMLF in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on SMLF yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
SMLF Dividends
- 0.99%
- $0.85
- $0.21 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2026 | Sep 18, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Jun 15, 2026 | Jun 18, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Mar 17, 2026 | Mar 20, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Dec 16, 2025 | Dec 19, 2025 | $0.24 |
| Sep 16, 2025 | Sep 19, 2025 | $0.24 |
| Jun 16, 2025 | Jun 20, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Mar 18, 2025 | Mar 21, 2025 | $0.17 |
| Dec 17, 2024 | Dec 20, 2024 | $0.32 |
| Sep 25, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.24 |
| Jun 11, 2024 | Jun 17, 2024 | $0.17 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 27, 2024 | $0.17 |
| Dec 20, 2023 | Dec 27, 2023 | $0.02 |
SMLF Risk
- 17.9%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.79
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −26.3%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.08
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
SMLF Cost
- The middle half of US Multifactor funds
- Median 0.30%
12 of the 98 US Multifactor funds charge less.