497K 1 d424324d497k.htm FORM 497K Form 497K
October 22, 2012

2012 Summary Prospectus

iShares Core Short-Term U.S. Bond ETF

ISTB • 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 15, 2012, 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.



iSHARES® CORE SHORT-TERM U.S. BOND ETF

 

Ticker: ISTB   Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

Investment Objective

The iShares Core Short-Term U.S. Bond ETF (the “Fund”) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Barclays U.S. Government/Credit 1-5 Year Bond 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

0.12%   None   None   0.12%

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

$12   $39

 

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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 measures the performance of U.S. dollar-denominated U.S. Treasury bonds, government-related bonds (i.e., U.S. and non-U.S. agencies, sovereign, quasi-sovereign, supranational and local authority debt) and investment grade U.S. corporate bonds that have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to one year and less than five years. As of September 30, 2012, there were 2,587 issues in the Underlying Index. Components primarily include corporate, government and treasury entities. The components of the Underlying Index, and the degree to which these components represent certain industries, may change over time.

Currently, the Underlying Index includes bonds that are rated investment grade and that have greater than or equal to one year and less than five years remaining to maturity and have $250 million or more of outstanding face value. An investment grade rating means the security or issuer is rated Baa3 or above by Moody’s® Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), or BBB- or above by Standard & Poor’s® Financial Services LLC (a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies) (“S&P®”) and Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”) or is unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by BFA. In addition, the securities in the Underlying Index must be denominated in U.S. dollars and must be fixed-rate and non-convertible. Excluded from the Underlying Index are certain special issues such as flower bonds, targeted investor notes, state and local government series bonds and coupon issues that have been stripped. Also excluded from the Underlying Index are structured notes with embedded swaps or other special features, private placements, floating-rate securities and bonds denominated in euros. The Underlying Index is market capitalization-weighted and the securities in the Underlying Index are updated on the last calendar day of each month.

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

 

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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, duration, maturity or credit ratings 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 the securities of the Underlying Index. The Fund may invest the remainder of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index.

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 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 Barclays Capital Inc. (“Barclays Capital”).

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), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities, and securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions 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.

Agency Debt Risk. The Fund invests in uncollateralized bonds or debentures issued by government agencies, including Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”). Bonds or debentures issued by government agencies are generally backed only by the general creditworthiness and reputation of the government agency issuing the bond or debenture and are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. There is uncertainty as to the current status of many obligations of Fannie Mae and other agencies.

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.

Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may “call” or repay the security before its stated

 

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maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund’s income.

Concentration Risk. To the extent that the Fund’s investments are concentrated in a particular sovereign entity or entities, in a particular country, group of countries, market, sector or asset class, the Fund may be susceptible to loss due to adverse occurrences affecting that sovereign entity or entities, in a particular country, group of countries, market, sector or asset class.

Credit Risk. The Fund is subject to the risk that debt issuers and other counterparties may not honor their obligations or may have their debt downgraded by ratings agencies.

Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain obligations will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline to the Fund’s income and potentially in the value of the Fund’s investments.

Geographic Risk. A natural or other disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests.

Income Risk. The Fund’s income may decline when interest rates fall. This decline can occur because the Fund must invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, bonds in the Underlying Index are substituted or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.

Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions are likely to have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index.

Interest Rate Risk. An increase in interest rates may cause the value of fixed-income securities held by the Fund to decline.

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.

Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. This can reduce the Fund’s returns because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices.

Management Risk. As the Fund may 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.

 

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Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital. The Fund is specifically exposed to North American Economic Risk.

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.

Reliance on Trading Partners Risk.

The Fund invests in countries whose economies are heavily dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments.

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.

Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations Risk. The Fund invests in securities issued by or guaranteed by non-U.S. sovereign governments and by entities affiliated with or backed by non-U.S. sovereign governments, which may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. In times of economic uncertainty, the prices of these securities may be more volatile than those of corporate debt obligations.

Tracking Error Risk. Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of imperfect correlation between the Fund’s holdings of portfolio securities and those in the Underlying Index, pricing differences, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences on timing of the accrual of dividends, changes to the Underlying Index or the need to meet various regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not.

U.S. Government Issuers Risk. Treasury obligations may differ in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Obligations of U.S. government agencies and authorities are supported by varying degrees of credit, but generally are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government or U.S. government agencies and authorities may cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline.

U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Fund’s U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.

 

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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.

Management

Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.

Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Scott Radell (the “Portfolio Managers”) are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Mr. Radell 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 50,000 shares or multiples thereof (“Creation Units”) to authorized participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor. The Fund generally will issue or redeem Creation Units in return for a designated portfolio of securities (and an amount of cash) 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-ISTB-1012