securities in
the Underlying Index. However, under various circumstances, it may not be
possible or practicable to purchase all of those securities in those same
weightings. In those circumstances, the Fund may purchase a sample of
securities in the Underlying Index.
A
“sampling” methodology means that the Adviser uses a quantitative analysis to
select securities from the Underlying Index universe to obtain a representative
sample of securities that have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics
similar to the Underlying Index in terms of key risk factors, performance
attributes and other characteristics. These include industry weightings,
market capitalization, return variability, earnings valuation, yield
and other
financial characteristics of securities. When employing a sampling methodology,
the Adviser bases the quantity of holdings in the Fund on a number of
factors, including asset size of the Fund, and generally expects the Fund to
hold less than the total number of securities in the Underlying Index.
However, the Adviser reserves the right to invest the Fund in as many
securities as
it believes necessary to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. To
the extent the Fund uses a sampling methodology, it may have a larger
tracking error than if it used a full replication methodology.
At
times, the Fund may utilize one or more additional investment techniques in
seeking to track the Underlying Index. Such techniques may include: (i)
overweighting or underweighting a component security in the Fund’s
portfolio compared to its weight in the Underlying Index, (ii) purchasing
securities not contained in the Underlying Index that the Adviser believes are
appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Underlying Index, (iii)
selling securities included in the Underlying Index in anticipation of
their removal
from the Underlying Index, or (iv) purchasing securities not included in
the Underlying Index in anticipation of their addition to the Underlying
Index.
Additional
information about the construction of the Underlying Index is set forth
below.
Nasdaq
International Innovators 100TM
Index
The
Underlying Index is designed to track the 100 most innovative companies in
the Parent Index, as determined by the Index Provider. The 100 companies
that are selected for inclusion in the Underlying Index are ones that,
based on Nasdaq’s proprietary methodology, have the highest “Innovator”
score of all the constituents in the Parent Index.
To
qualify for inclusion in the Underlying Index, a security must be included in
the Parent Index. The Parent Index consists of global large- and mid-capitalization
equities, excluding U.S. equities. Securities in the Parent Index
generally include common stocks, depositary receipts, REITs and preferred
shares. Eligible securities must have a minimum market capitalization
of $150 million and have a minimum three-month average daily dollar
trading volume of $100,000. Securities of companies located in both
developed and emerging market countries are eligible for inclusion in
both the
Parent Index and the Underlying Index. As of the date of this Prospectus,
the Index Provider considers developed market countries (excluding
the United States) to be Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland,
Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, the United Kingdom,
Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg,
the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden and Singapore;
the Index Provider considers emerging market countries to be Brazil,
Chile, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Morocco,
Mexico, Malaysia, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan, and
South Africa. In order to qualify for the Underlying Index, a company must
have had positive revenue and a positive gross margin in the last year and
three years ago.
In
constructing the Underlying Index, the Index Provider reviews the companies in
the Parent Index and assigns them each an “Innovator” score. The Innovator
score is a combination of individual scores for certain specific fundamental
financial metrics, as follows:
(1)
annual research & development expenses as a percentage of annual
company
sales;
(2)
a company’s revenue growth, measured as the percentage change of the most
recent year’s sales compared to sales three years ago;
(3)
a company’s gross margin growth, measured as the percentage change over
the average gross margin in the last year compared to the average gross
margin three years ago;
(4)
a company's average quarterly gross margin, as measured over the last three
years; and
(5)
a company’s gross margin Sharpe ratio, measured as the ratio of a company’s
average quarterly gross margin divided by how much its quarterly
gross margin has varied over the past three years.
The
companies with the highest results in each of these categories receive the
highest scores in the respective categories. The individual scores are then
combined to create an “Innovator” score. The Index Provider sorts the companies
by their Innovator score, and the 100 companies with the highest
Innovator score are selected for inclusion in the Underlying Index. In
the Index
Provider’s view, the companies in the Parent Index that have the highest
Innovator scores are considered to be the most innovative companies in
the Parent Index.
Upon
completion of the constituent selection process, the companies selected for
the Underlying Index are weighted based on a modified free-float
market capitalization methodology, where constituents are weighted
based on a formula that considers such constituents’ individual market
capitalizations and the aggregate market capitalizations of all selected
constituents. The Index Provider also uses weighting constraints, so
that no
single security may exceed 10% of the Underlying Index. In addition,
the aggregate
weight of individual securities that each represent more than 4.75% of the
Underlying Index may not exceed 50% of the overall Underlying
Index.
The
Underlying Index is reweighted quarterly, at market open on the first
trading day
following the third Friday in March, June, September and December. The
Underlying Index is rebalanced semi-annually as of market open on the
first day of trading following the third Friday in June and December. At
each semi-annual rebalance, securities’ eligibility for inclusion in the
Underlying Index is evaluated based on data as of the last day of trading in
May and November, respectively. If, at any time during the year, a component
security becomes ineligible for inclusion in the Underlying Index, the security
is removed and is not replaced until the next rebalance.
Apart
from scheduled rebalances, Underlying Index securities may be subject to a
variety of corporate actions and events that require maintenance
and adjustments to the Underlying Index by the Index Provider.
The
Fund is reweighted and rebalanced in accordance with the Underlying
Index.
Principal
Risks of Investing in the Fund
The following
provides additional information regarding certain of the principal
risks identified under “Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund” in
the Fund's
“Summary Information” section. Any of the following risks may impact the
Fund’s NAV which could result in the Fund trading at a premium or discount
to NAV.
Market
Risk. Securities
in the Underlying Index are subject to market fluctuations,
and the Fund could lose money due to short-term market movements and
over longer periods during market downturns. You should anticipate
that the value of the Shares will decline, more or less, in correlation
with any decline in value of the securities in the Underlying Index. The
value of a security may decline due to general market conditions, economic
trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security
or due to factors that affect a particular industry or group of industries.
During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes
may be negatively affected. Additionally, economies and financial
markets throughout the world have become increasingly interconnected,
which increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or
country will adversely affect markets or issuers in other regions or
countries. Natural or environmental disasters, widespread disease or other
public health issues, war, military conflicts, acts of terrorism,