497K 1 d240179d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K
October 7, 2011
2011 Summary Prospectus

iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index Fund

USMV•NYSE ARCA

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus (including amendments and supplements) and other information about the Fund, including the Fund’s statement of additional information and shareholder report, online at http://us.ishares.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or by sending an e-mail request to iSharesETFs@blackrock.com, or from your financial professional. The Fund’s prospectus and statement of additional information, both dated October 7, 2011, as amended and supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into (legally made a part of) this Summary Prospectus.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.



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Fund Overview

iSHARES® MSCI USA MINIMUM
VOLATILITY INDEX FUND


Ticker: USMV Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

Investment Objective

The iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index Fund (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI USA Minimum Volatility Index (the “Underlying Index”).

Fees and Expenses

The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you own shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares Trust (the “Trust”) and BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”) (the “Investment Advisory Agreement”) provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except interest expenses, taxes, brokerage expenses, future distribution fees or expenses and extraordinary expenses.


You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in the example that follows:


Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investments)
Management
Fees
Distribution and
Service (12b-1)
Fees
Other
Expenses
Total Annual
Fund
Operating
Expenses
0.15% None None 0.15%

Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:

1 Year
3 Years
$15 $48   


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Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Underlying Index has been developed by MSCI Inc. (“MSCI”) to measure the performance of equity securities in the top 85% by market capitalization of equity securities listed on stock exchanges in the United States that have lower absolute volatility. The Underlying Index begins with the MSCI USA Index, which is a capitalization-weighted index, and then follows a rules-based methodology to determine weights for securities in the index that seeks to minimize total risk of the MSCI USA Index. As of September 1, 2011, the Underlying Index had 126 constituents. Component companies include consumer staples, health care and information technology companies.

BFA uses a “passive” or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by keeping portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Underlying Index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Underlying Index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index.

The Fund generally invests at least 90% of its assets in securities of the Underlying Index or in depositary receipts representing securities in the Underlying Index. The Fund may invest the remainder of its assets in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index, futures contracts, options on futures contracts, options and swaps related to its Underlying Index, as well as cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund’s total assets (including the value of the collateral received).


The Underlying Index is sponsored by an organization (the “Index Provider”) that

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is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Fund’s Index Provider is MSCI.

Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.

Summary of Principal Risks

As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund’s performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective.

Asset Class Risk. Securities in the Underlying Index or in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general securities markets or other asset classes.

Concentration Risk. To the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in a particular issuer, region, country, market, industry or asset class, the Fund may be susceptible to loss due to adverse occurrences affecting that issuer, region, country, market, industry or asset class.


Consumer Staples Sector Risk. The consumer staples sector may be affected by marketing campaigns, changes in consumer demands, government regulations and changes in commodity prices.

Equity Securities Risk. Equity securities are subject to changes in value and their values may be more volatile than other asset classes.

Health Care Sector Risk. The health care sector may be affected by government regulations and government health care programs, increases or decreases in the cost of medical products and services and product liability claims, among other factors. Many health care companies are heavily dependent on patent protection and the expiration of a patent may adversely affect their profitability. Health care companies are subject to competitive forces that may result in price discounting, and may be thinly capitalized and susceptible to product obsolescence.


Information Technology Sector Risk. Information technology companies face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence. They are also heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by loss or impairment of those rights.


Issuer Risk. Fund performance depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.



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Management Risk. As the Fund does not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA’s investment management strategy may not produce the intended results.

Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during market downturns.

Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND’S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.


Mid-Capitalization Companies Risk. The Fund may invest in the securities of mid-capitalization companies. Compared to large-capitalization companies, mid-capitalization companies may be less stable and more susceptible to adverse developments and their securities may be more volatile and less liquid.

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund may invest a large percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers. As a result, the Fund’s performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers.

Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and BFA does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.


Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the Fund’s loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of the collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund.

Tracking Error Risk. The performance of the Fund may diverge from that of the Underlying Index. Because the Fund employs a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may experience tracking error to a greater extent than a fund that seeks to replicate an index.

Volatility Risk. Although the Underlying Index was created by the Index Provider to seek lower volatility than the MSCI USA Index, there is no guarantee that these strategies will be successful. The Fund’s name reflects the name of the Underlying Index as provided by the Index Provider. However, the Index Provider may be unsuccessful in creating an index that minimizes volatility, and there is a risk that the Fund may experience more than minimum volatility. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may be subject to price volatility and the prices may not be any less volatile than the market as a whole and could be more volatile.

Performance Information

As of the date of the Fund’s prospectus (the “Prospectus”), the Fund has been in operation for less than one full calendar year and therefore does not report its performance information.



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Management

Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.

Portfolio Managers. Rene Casis, Diane Hsiung and Greg Savage (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Casis, Ms. Hsiung and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since inception.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (commonly referred to as an “ETF”). Individual Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund will only issue or redeem shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 100,000 shares or multiples thereof (“Creation Units”) to authorized participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor. The Fund will issue or redeem Creation Units in return for a designated portfolio of assets that the Fund specifies each day.

Tax Information

The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account (“IRA”).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), BFA or other related companies may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of the Fund. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.



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For more information visit www.iShares.com or call 1-800-474-2737

Investment Company Act file No.: 811-09729

IS-SP-USMV-1011