ETF Education Report: ISEP

What this ETF is trying to do

The Innovator International Developed Power Buffer ETF September (ISEP) is an exchange-traded fund listed on the NYSE. While the specific investment strategy details are not provided in the data, ETFs like this one generally aim to provide exposure to certain markets while using "buffer" strategies to manage price movements.

What the numbers show

The current price of ISEP is $35.44. Looking back at the past year, we can look at an estimated price from roughly one year ago, which was approximately $31.00.

When looking at performance, it is important to distinguish between different types of returns:

• One-Year Price Return: The share-price change over the last year was approximately 14.34%.

• One-Year Total Return: The supplied total return for the last year was also approximately 14.34%. This figure reflects the overall return including distributions, according to the source data.

• Year-to-Date (YTD) Price Return: The change in share price since the start of the year is approximately 8.73%.

• Year-to-Date (YTD) Total Return: The supplied total return for this year is also approximately 8.73%.

Because the price return and the total return are the same in this data, it shows that the share-price movement was the primary driver of the performance.

Income and distribution explanation

Some investors look for ETFs that pay out regular cash. For ISEP, the distribution yield is 0%. The data shows no distributions were detected over the last 12 months. This means the ETF has not provided cash income to investors during this period.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" refers to a situation where the value of the underlying assets in the fund decreases significantly. An "erosion-risk score" is a measurement used to check for this risk.

For ISEP, the erosion-risk score is 100, and the label is "No price erosion detected." The erosion severity is described as "good," and there is no severe erosion-risk flag. This indicates that the fund's price movement does not currently show signs of the specific risks measured by this score.

Pros

• The ETF has shown positive share-price returns over both a one-year period and the current year-to-date period.

• There is no detected price erosion according to the provided risk measurements.

Cons

• There were no cash distributions or payouts detected in the last 12 months.

• Total return data for the three-year period was not supplied.

Beginner takeaway

ISEP has experienced a share-price increase over the last year. It is important to remember that price returns only measure how much the share price moves, while total returns include any distributions. In this specific case, the two numbers are the same because no distributions were made. Always remember that past performance does not guarantee future results.