Innovator's July buffer fund rose 12.6% as EFA rose 16.2% and paid dividends

Innovator International Developed Power Buffer ETF, the July series, IJUL, rose 12.6% in price from June 30, 2025 to June 30, 2026. The iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, EFA, the fund it uses as its reference, rose 16.2% in price over those same dates.

The outcome period, the roughly one year the cap and the buffer are set for, ran from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. The figures above measure it from the June 30 close before it began to the June 30 close when it ended. The fund seeks the cap and the buffer for a shareholder who holds the whole period.

Innovator charges a 0.85% management fee. A prospectus supplement dated June 30, 2025 set the cap at 13.60% before fees and 12.75% after the fee.

The 12.6% gain finished just short of that after-fee cap. EFA finished up, so the buffer against the first 15% of losses did not apply.

The fund seeks EFA's price return, up to the cap, and seeks to absorb the first 15% of EFA's losses from the start. EFA tracks large and midsize companies in developed markets outside the United States and Canada. The reference is the price, so the dividend is not included.

EFA went ex-dividend for $1.73 a share on Dec. 16, 2025, paid on Dec. 19, and for $1.64 a share on June 15, 2026, paid on June 18. Those two payments were 3.8% of the $89.39 close on June 30, 2025.

With them, EFA returned 20.0% before any reinvestment. IJUL paid no dividend. The gap was 7.4 percentage points, against 3.6 percentage points on price alone.

From Feb. 27 to March 20, 2026, EFA fell 11.2%, from $105.38 to $93.59. Even then, it was still above the $89.39 close where the period started.

IJUL is the largest of the 26 funds with a 15% buffer on developed markets outside the United States and Canada, with $257 million of their $2.2 billion.

The October series stayed under its cap

Innovator International Developed Power Buffer ETF, the October series, IOCT, seeks the same 15% buffer. Its outcome period runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

The summary prospectus dated Feb. 27, 2026 states the cap for the period that ended Sept. 30, 2026 at 13.89% before fees and 13.04% after the 0.85% fee. It states that the cap is set on the first day of the period, Oct. 1, 2025.

EFA's price rose 11.3% from Sept. 30, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026, under that after-fee cap. IOCT rose 10.5%.

Whether the cap limited the gain depended on the month the series started. The July period included a 16.2% rise in EFA's price. The October period included an 11.3% rise.

Same reference, same buffer. The July gain was limited by the cap. The October gain was not.

The July series reset at a higher cap

On July 1, 2026, IJUL reset. The new cap is 16.87% before fees and 16.02% after the fee, above the 12.75% after-fee cap the series had just finished. From June 30 to Nov. 10, 2026, EFA's price rose 0.5%. The new cap has not been reached, and EFA is not down, so the buffer has not applied.