A sound investment process and strong management team underpin iShares Lithium Miners And Producers ETF's Morningstar Medalist Rating of Silver. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's effective investment philosophy supports a High Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant overweight position in liquidity exposure and quality exposure compared with category peers. High liquidity exposure is attributed to stocks with a high trading volume, lending managers more flexibility. And a high quality exposure is rooted in holding stocks with low financial leverage and strong returns on equity. The strategy’s management team earns an Above Average People Pillar rating. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Above Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

Analyst Rating

Albemarle

Altus Midstream

Sigma Lithium Corp

Lithium Americas

Piedmont Lithium

Concho Resources

American Lithium Corp

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. Ishares Lithium Miners And Producers ETF earns a High Process Pillar rating. The leading factor in the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. The parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 55% also bolsters the process. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and beat their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. Their impressive success ratio suggests that the firm does well for investors and that this fund may benefit from that. The firm's five-year retention rate of 92% supports the process as well.

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:  The investment seeks to track the investment results of the STOXX Global Lithium Miners and Producers Index composed of U.S. and non-U.S. equities of companies primarily engaged in lithium ore mining and/or lithium compounds manufacturing.  The fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its underlying index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its underlying index and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, and cash and cash equivalents. The fund is non-diversified. 

 The portfolio is overweight in basic materials and technology relative to the category average by 37.9 and 3.7 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are energy and industrials, underweight the average by 26.9 and 4.9 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is positioned across 50 holdings and is relatively top-heavy. Of the strategy's assets, 62.2% are concentrated within the top 10 holdings, compared to the typical peer's 25.3%.

High

Process

iShares’s team is strong compared with others in the industry, resulting in an Above Average People Pillar rating. There are three managers listed on the fund: Greg Savage, Jennifer Hsui, Paul Whitehead. The team is well equipped, with an average of 18 years of portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 258 strategies, with a Silver asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating the potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

Above Average

People

BlackRock offers compelling options across asset classes and vehicles. It earns an Above Average rating for Parent. 
The firm’s approximately USD 8 trillion in assets under management, as of Sept. 30, 2022, gives it unparalleled scale and influence. It is a market-leading index fund provider globally, and its iShares exchange-traded fund franchise offers a low-cost lineup of core funds that investors can use to build a well-diversified portfolio for dirt cheap. The firm can be more adventurous in its ETF launches than some peers, so not everything it launches is appropriate for the masses. As a result, it is likely to have more ETF closures than peers that stick to the basic building blocks.  
The firm’s active fixed-income and multi-asset efforts also stand out as some of the best in the industry. Those benefit from BlackRock’s commitment to building a first-class risk management system via its Aladdin analytics software. The software is also available for sale to other firms and has proved to be a popular option for competitors, a testament to its usefulness. 
More recently, the firm has shifted its focus to ESG offerings and incorporating ESG across its investment lineup, leading to a political backlash in the United States.
BlackRock isn’t the best at everything it tries to do, but retail investors, financial advisors, and large institutions could all build robust portfolios using BlackRock’s products.

Parent

iShares Lithium Miners and Producers ETF

ILIT is passively managed, providing exposure to the lithium industry by investing in stocks of lithium miners and compound manufacturers from all around the world.

Atlas Lithium Inc

Amplify Lithium & Battery Technology ETF

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF

Sociedad Quimica Y Minera De Chile

Crisis will turn into an opportunity for lithium stocks. That's because supply issues are only temporary.

7 Lithium Stocks Ready for a Major Comeback

Arcadium Lithium PLC

Sprott Lithium Miners ETF

Standard Lithium Ltd

Lithium stocks have been a disaster with oversupply issues and a drop-off in demand for electric vehicles. But with prices this cheap, it may be time to get greedy with lithium stocks with millionaire potential.

7 Lithium Stocks with Serious Potential to Make You a Millionaire

IMGP Berkshire Dividend Growth ETF

Matthews China Active ETF

First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF

Putnam Emerging Markets EX-China Etf

VictoryShares Free Cash Flow ETF

MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF

LHA Risk-Managed Income ETF

Issuers have mainly launched four types of ETFs in the past one year, namely -- thematic, smart-beta, international equity and managed risk/defined outcome.

4 ETF Categories That Have Gained Prominence Past Year

Lithium has emerged as a key metal in today's world due to its usage in electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy storage systems.

A New ETF (ILIT) Hits the Market to Bet Big on Lithium Rush

Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF

Advisorshares Managed Bitcoin Strategy ETF

Fidelity Disruptors ETF

VanEck Vectors Muni Allocation ETF

Global X MSCI Nigeria ETF

Invesco PureBeta FTSE Developed ex-North America ETF

Invesco PureBeta FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

Invesco PureBeta US Aggregate Bond ETF

Invesco PureBeta MSCI USA Small Cap ETF

Invesco Balanced Multi-Asset Allocation ETF

Invesco Conservative Multi-Asset Allocation ETF

Invesco Growth Multi-Asset Allocation ETF

Invesco Moderately Conservative Multi-Asset Allocation ETF

First Trust Developed International Equity Select ETF

AdvisorShares Drone Tech ETF

PIMCO Ultra Short Government Active ETF

Global X 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF

Future Fund Long/short ETF

FT Cboe Vest US Equity Moderate Buffer Etf-June

iShares iBonds Dec 2033 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds 2030 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares Copper and Metals Mining ETF

PIMCO Multi Sector Bond Active ETF

Clouty Tune Etf

UVA Dividend Value ETF

It was a busy week for ETF launches and closures. A total of 15 ETFs launched during the week shortened by the Juneteenth holiday, defying the typically slow launch count for weeks surrounding three-day weekends.

Last Week in ETFs: 15 Launches, Closures Continue Rapid Pace

News for iShares Lithium Miners and Producers ETF ETF (ILIT)