ZURICH, Switzerland, April 2, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- STOXX Ltd., the leading European index provider, has licensed the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50, Dow Jones STOXX Strong Growth 20, Dow Jones STOXX Strong Value 20 and Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Composite 40 indexes to ETFlab Investment GmbH to underlie four exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The ETFs are listed at Deutsche Boerse, Germany.
This is the first time that the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Indexes have been licensed to underlie ETFs. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index is the most successful and widely used underlying index for ETFs in terms of assets under management in Europe.
"The Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Indexes are uniquely weighted by growth or value score. These indexes with their alternative weighting scheme enable investors to further diversify their portfolios and take advantage of returns of the strongest growth and value companies in Western Europe," said Werner Buerki, chairman of the STOXX Supervisory Board. "The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index allows investors to participate in well-known sector leaders of the Eurozone."
"We appreciate STOXX's decision to license this set of indexes to ETFlab and are looking forward to a successful partnership," said Andreas Fehrenbach, chief executive officer, ETFlab. "By launching these ETFs, we offer our investors the opportunity to invest in important benchmarks such as the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index. Alternatively, investors can appreciate outperformance against the traditional benchmarks by investing in ETFs that follow innovative index concepts such as the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Indexes," he added.
Launched on June 4, 2007, the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style indexes are designed to accurately represent the performance of the most style pure companies in Western Europe, covering the highest scoring stocks in each style category. The Dow Jones STOXX Strong Growth 20 Index and Dow Jones STOXX Strong Value 20 Index include companies with the highest growth and the highest value scores, respectively, and are weighted by their growth or value score. The Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Composite 40 Index combines both style indexes for Western Europe. They are the only pan-European blue-chip indexes for growth and value companies.
For the Dow Jones STOXX Style indexes, six factors are applied to define a stock's style category with two factors being projected, two being current and two being historical: projected price/earnings (P/E) ratio, projected earnings growth, trailing P/E ratio, trailing earnings growth, price/book (P/B) ratio and dividend yield. The six factors are condensed into a single style score measuring the style purity of the company. The weight of a company is then based on its growth or value score.
Launched on February 28, 1998, the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index provides a blue-chip representation of supersector leaders in the Eurozone covering Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
As of April 1, 2008, the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Growth 20 Index had a return of 84.66% since its inception date of September 30, 2001. For the same time period, the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Value 20 Index is up 66.86%, the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Composite 40 Index gained 76.04% and the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 is up 10.05%(1).
The Dow Jones STOXX Strong Growth 20 Index, Dow Jones STOXX Strong Value 20 Index and Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Composite 40 Index are derived from the Dow Jones STOXX TMI Style Index. Daily historical data are available back to September 30, 2001(1), with a base value set at 1000.
The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index captures approximately 60% of the free-float market capitalization of the Dow Jones EURO STOXX TMI Index. Daily historical data are available back to December 31, 1986(1).
Components, weightings and performance figures for the Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Indexes and Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index can be found at www.stoxx.com.
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to PR-Indexes@dowjones.com or contact Dow Jones Indexes/STOXX press office:
New York: +1-212-597-5720
Frankfurt: +49-69-29725-290
(1) The Dow Jones STOXX Strong Style Indexes were first published on
June 4, 2007. The Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index was first
published on February 28, 1998. All estimated daily historical
closing prices prior to that date are based on back-testing,
i.e. calculations of how the index might have performed in the
past if it had existed. Back-tested performance information is
purely hypothetical and is solely for informational purposes.
It does not represent actual performance, and past performance
is not indicative of future results.
The STOXX logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2848