All 36 S&P 500 Buffer ETFs from Innovator have successfully rebalanced and reset at least once
Defined Outcome ETFs seek to provide S&P 500 exposure up to a cap, with downside buffer levels of 9%, 15% or 30% over one-year Outcome Period
CHICAGO, May 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovator Capital Management, LLC (Innovator) today announced the upside caps and return profiles for the May series of the S&P 500 Buffer ETFs™ – Innovator S&P 500 Buffer ETF™ - May (BMAY), Innovator S&P 500 Power Buffer ETF™ – May (PMAY) and Innovator S&P 500 Ultra Buffer ETF™ – May (UMAY) – which completed their first outcome period and reset at the end of the month. The May ETFs were the final series of the S&P 500 Buffer ETF™ suite to list in 2020, completing monthly issuance of Innovator’s flagship Defined Outcome ETF™ lineup.
The 36 total ETFs, which now have all successfully rebalanced at least once, provide investors with upside participation, to a cap, in Large-cap U.S. stocks via options on the S&P 500 with buffers against market losses of 9%, 15% or 30% over one year periods. The return profiles for the three ETFs in the May S&P 500 Buffer ETF™ series will span the year from today to April 30th, 2022.
Return profiles for the Innovator S&P 500 Buffer ETFs™ – May Series, as of 5/03/2021
| Ticker | Name | Buffer Level | Caps* | Outcome Period | ||
| BMAY | Innovator S&P 500 Buffer ETF™ - May | 9.00% | 13.60% | 12 months 5/01/21 – 4/30/22 | ||
| PMAY | Innovator S&P 500 Power Buffer ETF™ - May | 15.00% | 8.62% | 12 months 5/01/21 – 4/30/22 | ||
| UMAY | Innovator S&P 500 Ultra Buffer ETF™ - May | 30.00% (-5% to -35%) | 6.60% | 12 months 5/01/21 – 4/30/22 | ||
* The Caps above are shown gross of the 0.79% management fee for each ETF. “Cap” refers to the maximum potential return, before fees and expenses and any shareholder transaction fees and any extraordinary expenses, if held over the full Outcome Period. “Buffer” refers to the amount of downside protection the fund seeks to provide, before fees and expenses, over the full Outcome Period. Outcome Period is the intended length of time over which the defined outcomes are sought. Upon commencement of the Outcome Period, the Caps can be found on a daily basis via www.innovatoretfs.com.
The May Series of the S&P 500 Buffer ETFs reset with large-cap U.S. stocks continuing to reach new records after an extended period of higher-than-average volatility and a historic rally over the past year. Though a significant contingent (67%) of 152 advisors polled by Barron’s for their semi-annual Big Money Poll, published April 26th, describe themselves as “bullish”, those advisors see the S&P 500 Index trading basically flat at 4207 at the end of 2021 and at 4341, about 5% higher than its current level, by the end of June 2022. This highlights the lower upside, range-bound expectations that advisors who are optimistic about equities have for domestic stocks on average and reflects their belief that volatility will persist and increase from current levels1 as the market remains sensitive to monetary policy blunders, tax policy changes, inflation, coronavirus variants and global Covid-19 surges, as well as rising rates. Self-proclaimed “bears” see the S&P 500 trading at 3721 at the end of the year and, similarly, 3723 at the end of June 2022.
“Advisors face a conundrum investing money for risk-averse clients today,” said Bruce Bond, CEO of Innovator ETFs. “Equities are at record highs and bonds don’t pay you much, yet they pack on interest rate risk. Strategists remind us that synchronized monetary and fiscal stimulus could keep the party going but many worry about what could be around the corner after such an impressive run. With 40% of advisors calling the U.S. stock market overvalued, according to the latest Barron’s Big Money Poll, and 65% of those professionals saying it is overvalued by at least 11%, we are finding that many fiduciaries are seeking the comfort of a known buffer against potential market losses over the coming year and the knowledge of a set level of upside participation in the event that stocks continue to climb.”
If held for the full outcome period, Innovator’s Defined Outcome S&P 500 Buffer ETFs – May Series can potentially help advisors capture the gains within the Bull scenario outlined in the Barron’s poll but also provide buffers against a significant portion of the downside forecast in their outlined Bear case, all while decreasing volatility, beta and drawdowns relative to the S&P 500 during the outcome period.
The ETFs reset annually and can be held indefinitely. For additional information, visit the Innovator Defined Outcome ETF Pricing Tool.
Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs - Benefits to Advisors
- Pioneer and creator of Defined Outcome ETFs™ with 65 ETFs and almost $4.4 billion AUM across family2
- Tax-efficient exposure to five broad equity benchmarks (S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, MSCI EM), the 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Market and now including the Stacker ETFs, the world’s first ETFs to offer a “stacked” exposure to two or three benchmark equity index ETFs on the upside, to a cap, with downside exposure to the S&P 500 only, and the Accelerated ETFs™, the world’s first ETFs to seek to offer a multiple of the upside return of a reference asset, up to a cap, with approximately single exposure on the downside.
- Monthly issuance on the S&P 500 with three buffer levels (9,15, or 30%)
Innovator's Defined Outcome ETFs™ are the subject of a patent application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
In 2021, starting with the January series, Innovator will be transitioning reference assets of the underlying options within its Defined Outcome Equity Buffer ETFs™ to achieve the stated outcomes with ETF-based, or fund-based, options rather than index-based options. Innovator’s Equity Buffer ETFs™ have traditionally used index-based options while the Defined Outcome Bond ETFs and Stacker ETFs™ have been constructed using fund-based options. This change is intended to streamline market making and increase the operational efficiencies of the tax-efficient Buffer ETFs™ and will not materially impact shareholders. The Buffer ETFs™ will continue to draw from the same deeply liquid options markets pools that underpin the strategies, the level of the upside caps achieved should be unaffected and no tax event will be triggered given the options can be transferred in-kind. “These operational changes are intended to harness the power and efficiencies of the ETF wrapper even further for the benefit of our Defined Outcome Buffer ETF™ investors,” stated Bond.
The Funds have characteristics unlike many other traditional investment products and may not be suitable for all investors. For more information regarding whether an investment in the Fund is right for you, please see “Investor Suitability” in the prospectus.
About Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs™
Defined Outcome ETFs™ are the world’s first ETFs that seek to provide investors with known ranges of future investment outcomes prior to investing. These outcome ranges include multiple and single upside exposure, to a cap, with defined levels of downside risk with buffers and floors over a set amount of time. The Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs™ cover a large spectrum of domestic and international equities and bonds. Innovator’s category-creating Defined Outcome ETF™ family includes Buffer ETFs™, Stacker ETFs™ and Floor ETFs™.
The Buffer ETFs™ seek to provide the upside performance of broadly recognized benchmarks (e.g., S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Russell 2000, MSCI EAFE, and MSCI Emerging Markets, as well as the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)) to a cap, with built-in buffers, over an outcome period of one year. The ETFs reset annually and can be held indefinitely.
Each Buffer ETF™ in Innovator’s Defined Outcome ETF™ suite seeks to provide a defined exposure to a broad market benchmark where the downside buffer level, upside growth potential to a cap, and Outcome Period are all known, prior to investing. In 2019, Innovator began expanding its suite of S&P 500 Buffer ETFs™ into a monthly series to provide investors more opportunities to purchase shares as close to the beginning of their respective Outcome Periods as possible.
Investors can purchase shares of a previously listed Defined Outcome ETF™ throughout the entire Outcome Period, obtaining a current set of defined outcome parameters, which are disclosed daily through a web tool available at: http://innovatoretfs.com/define.
Innovator is focused on delivering defined outcome-based solutions inside the benefit-rich ETF wrapper, retaining many of the features that have contributed to the success of structured products3 (e.g., downside buffer levels, upside participation, defined outcome parameters), but with the added benefits of transparency, liquidity, the elimination of credit risk and lower costs afforded by the ETF structure.
About Innovator Capital Management, LLC
Awarded ETF.com's "ETF Issuer of the Year - 2019", Innovator Capital Management LLC (Innovator) is an SEC-registered investment advisor (RIA) based in Wheaton, IL. Formed in 2014, the firm is currently headed by ETF visionaries Bruce Bond and John Southard, founders of one of the largest ETF providers in the world. Bond and Southard reentered the asset management industry to bring to market first-of-their-kind investment opportunities, including the Defined Outcome ETFs™, products that they felt would change the investing landscape and bring more certainty to the financial planning process. Innovator’s category-creating Defined Outcome ETF™ family includes Buffer ETFs™, Stacker ETFs™ and Floor ETFs. Buffer ETFs™ and Floor ETFs™ seek to provide investors structured exposures to broad markets, where the upside growth potential, buffer or floor against the downside, and outcome period are all known, prior to investing. Stacker ETFs™ are the world’s first ETFs to offer a multiple or "stacked" exposure to two or three benchmark index ETFs (SPY, QQQ, IWM) to a cap, with only downside exposure to the SPY over a one year outcome period. Having launched the first Defined Outcome ETFs™ in 2018 -- the flagship Innovator S&P 500 Buffer ETF™ Suite – Innovator’s solutions allow advisors to construct diversified portfolios with known outcome ranges to aid in risk management and financial planning. Built on a foundation of innovation and driven by a commitment to help investors better control their financial outcomes, Innovator is leading the Defined Outcome ETF Revolution™. For additional information, visit www.innovatoretfs.com.
About Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE) is one of the world’s largest exchange-holding companies, offering cutting-edge trading and investment solutions to investors around the world. For more information, visit www.cboe.com.
About Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC
Milliman Financial Risk Management LLC (Milliman FRM) is a global leader in financial risk management to the retirement industry, providing investment advisory, hedging, and consulting services on approximately $150 billion in global assets (as of December 31, 2020). Milliman FRM is one of the largest and fastest-growing subadvisors of ETFs. For more information about Milliman FRM, visit www.Milliman.com/FRM.
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Interim Period Shareholders
Unlike structured notes, which offer limited liquidity, Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs™ trade throughout the day on an exchange, like a stock. As a result, investors purchasing shares of a Fund after its launch date may achieve a different payoff profile than those who entered the Fund on day one. Innovator recognizes this as a benefit of the Funds and provides a web-based tool that allows investors to know, in real-time throughout the trading day, their potential defined outcome return profile before they invest, based on the current ETF price and the Outcome Period remaining. Innovator’s web tool can be accessed at http://www.innovatoretfs.com/define.
Although each Fund seeks to achieve the defined outcomes stated in its investment objective, there is no guarantee that it will do so. The returns that the Funds seek to provide do not include the costs associated with purchasing shares of the Fund and certain expenses incurred by the Fund.
Investing involves risks. Loss of principal is possible. The Funds face numerous market trading risks, including active markets risk, authorized participation concentration risk, buffered loss risk, cap change risk, capped upside return risk, correlation risk, liquidity risk, management risk, market maker risk, market risk, non-diversification risk, operation risk, options risk, trading issues risk, upside participation risk and valuation risk. For a detail list of fund risks see the prospectus.
Market Disruptions Resulting from COVID-19. The outbreak of COVID-19 has negatively affected the worldwide economy, individual countries, individual companies and the market in general. The future impact of COVID-19 is currently unknown, and it may exacerbate other risks that apply to the Fund.
Foreign and Emerging Markets Risk Non-U.S. securities and Emerging Markets are subject to higher volatility than securities of domestic issuers due to possible adverse political, social or economic developments, restrictions on foreign investment or exchange of securities, lack of liquidity, currency exchange rates, excessive taxation, government seizure of assets, different legal or accounting standards, and less government supervision and regulation of securities exchanges in foreign countries.
Technology Sector Risk Companies in the technology sector are often smaller and can be characterized by relatively higher volatility in price performance when compared to other economic sectors. They can face intense competition, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins.
Small-Cap Risk Small-cap companies may be more volatile and susceptible to adverse developments than their mid- and large-cap counterpart. In addition, the small-cap companies may be less liquid than larger companies.
FLEX Options Risk The Fund will utilize FLEX Options issued and guaranteed for settlement by the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). In the unlikely event that the OCC becomes insolvent or is otherwise unable to meet its settlement obligations, the Fund could suffer significant losses. Additionally, FLEX Options may be less liquid than standard options. In a less liquid market for the FLEX Options, the Fund may have difficulty closing out certain FLEX Options positions at desired times and prices. The values of FLEX Options do not increase or decrease at the same rate as the reference asset and may vary due to factors other than the price of reference asset.
These Funds are designed to provide point-to-point exposure to the price return of the Reference Asset via a basket of Flex Options. As a result, the ETFs are not expected to move directly in line with the Reference Asset during the interim period.
Investors purchasing shares after an outcome period has begun may experience very different results than funds' investment objective. Initial outcome periods are approximately 1-year beginning on the funds' inception date. Following the initial outcome period, each subsequent outcome period will begin on the first day of the month the fund was incepted. After the conclusion of an outcome period, another will begin.
Fund shareholders are subject to an upside return cap (the "Cap") that represents the maximum percentage return an investor can achieve from an investment in the funds' for the Outcome Period, before fees and expenses. If the Outcome Period has begun and the Fund has increased in value to a level near to the Cap, an investor purchasing at that price has little or no ability to achieve gains but remains vulnerable to downside risks. Additionally, the Cap may rise or fall from one Outcome Period to the next. The Cap, and the Fund's position relative to it, should be considered before investing in the Fund. The Funds' website, www.innovatoretfs.com, provides important Fund information as well information relating to the potential outcomes of an investment in a Fund on a daily basis.
The Funds with buffer mechanisms only seek to provide shareholders that hold shares for the entire Outcome Period with their respective buffer level against Reference Asset losses during the Outcome Period. You will bear all Reference Asset losses exceeding 9, 15 or 30%. Depending upon market conditions at the time of purchase, a shareholder that purchases shares after the Outcome Period has begun may also lose their entire investment. For instance, if the Outcome Period has begun and the Fund has decreased in value beyond the pre-determined buffer, an investor purchasing shares at that price may not benefit from the buffer. Similarly, if the Outcome Period has begun and the Fund has increased in value, an investor purchasing shares at that price may not benefit from the buffer until the Fund's value has decreased to its value at the commencement of the Outcome Period.
THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE PRODUCT(S).
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., and its affiliates do not recommend or make any representation as to possible Benefits from any securities, futures or investments, or third-party products or services. Cboe Global Markets, Inc., is not affiliated with S&P DJI, Milliman, or Innovator Capital Management. Investors should undertake their own due diligence regarding their securities, futures and investment practices.
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., and its affiliates make no warranty, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, any warranties as of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness or timeliness, or as to the results to be obtained by recipients of the products.
* ETF.com’s editorial team chose the finalists and then the ETF.com Awards Selection Committee, an independent panel comprised of fifteen of the ETF industry’s leading analysts, consultants and investors, decided the winners.
Innovator ETFs™, Defined Outcome ETF™, Buffer ETF™, Enhanced ETF™, Define Your Future™, Leading the Defined Outcome ETF Revolution™ and other service marks and trademarks related to these marks are the exclusive property of Innovator Capital Management, LLC.
The Funds' investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses should be considered before investing. The prospectus contains this and other important information, and it may be obtained at innovatoretfs.com. Read it carefully before investing.
Innovator ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC.
Copyright © 2021 Innovator Capital Management, LLC.
800.208.5212
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1 The Big Money poll found the average of the 152 advisors’ expectations for the VIX to be at 21.59 at the end of 2021, up from under 20 as of the end of April.
2 AUM in all Innovator Defined Outcome ETFs as of 4.30.2021.
3 Structured notes and structured annuities are financial instruments designed and created to afford investors exposure to an underlying asset through a derivative contract. It is important to note that these ETFs are not structured notes or structured annuities.