iShares Russell 2000 Index (ETF) (AMEX:IWM)

midwestrunner (39.83) Submitted: 3/24/2008 5:28:35 PM : Start Price: $66.11 IWM Score: +14.27

IWM is an ETF by IShares. IWM tracks the Russell 2000 Index. For those who do not know the Russell 2000 represents the approximately 2,0000 smalleset companies in the Russell 3000 index. The Russell 2000 is comprised of the small captilization section of the U.S. equity market. This ETF has a very low expense ration aroud 0.20%. I like this ETF because of its history. The Russell 2000 on average over a long period of time has produced better returns than the S&P 500. I believe that the Russell 2000 should be a part of most investors' portfolio's. The exact amount would depend on many factors including risk tolerance, time until the money is needed, return needs amoung others.

joreynewcomb (23.19) Submitted: 3/24/2008 3:45:15 PM : Start Price: $65.85 IWM Score: +14.73

should be in mid $80

humvee5000 (97.98) Submitted: 1/14/2008 6:24:42 PM : Start Price: $66.05 IWM Score: +17.47

Double short the RUS 2000

mfiebert (49.14) Submitted: 9/2/2007 10:42:38 AM : Start Price: $74.19 IWM Score: +8.93

Over the medium term, small caps have more opportunity to grow quicker in % terms due to their size.

youngbuc25 (94.81) Submitted: 8/23/2007 8:10:42 PM : Start Price: $74.10 IWM Score: +8.43

I have a speculative $2145 in this one.

gerard322 (< 20) Submitted: 8/20/2007 2:57:16 PM : Start Price: $73.77 IWM Score: +7.55

time to get bullish

BadInvestorSix (92.96) Submitted: 7/17/2007 11:03:44 PM : Start Price: $79.27 IWM Score: +6.45

small caps will out perform s&p 500 over 2 years

NetscribeETF (37.64) Submitted: 3/12/2007 5:50:53 AM : Start Price: $73.42 IWM Score: -4.47

iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund seeks investment in the small capitalization companies of United States equity market. Being a subset of the Russell 3000 index it accounts for approximately 8% of the total market capitalization of all publicly traded U.S equities. The index is more evenly weighted with the top 10 holdings representing less than 2% of the index's overall value.

Outlook for the original equipment manufactures in auto and transportation industry looks negative with expectations of drop in light vehicle sales volume and the Detroit’s big three to loose market share to foreign brands in 2007. Financial services account for 24% of the total allocation with less exposure to fundamentally strong traditional banking, asset management or investment banking companies. Real estate investment trust, hospitality and mortgage business form the bulk of it and with real estate pricing cooling down and tightening credit spread make it really a cause of concern.

Security issues and political tension has boosted the government defense expenditure and the fund does not have any to benefit from the rising aerospace and defense sector. Even utilities and other energy account for a paltry 4% share of corpus each. Though these benefit from rising oil prices it would not have much effect as a whole. However the positive arise with the consumer staple and durable industry that perform well even in difficult economic conditions. Health and Technology is another bright spot to cash on and needs a mention worth its presence.

On the whole fewer funds have been dedicated to mid caps with more going to tiniest ones, which is reflected in the standard deviation of the portfolio making it very volatile. Analyzing its past returns its average annualized returns for the past three years stood at 13.41%. But it five year annualized returns trails majority of its peers and chances of the beating the market look dim.

SigmaTriton (57.68) Submitted: 11/16/2006 1:19:45 PM : Start Price: $73.92 IWM Score: +4.08

Reccomended as one of the best ETFs of 2007

ezitzewitz (< 20) Submitted: 10/11/2006 8:07:37 PM : Start Price: $69.72 IWM Score: +6.41

Small cap effect.