The Real Drivers Behind IWM's Big Return

Your small-cap ETF had a great year, but a surprisingly small number of its holdings did the heavy lifting.

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) delivered a +42.1% return over the past year, but that gain wasn't earned evenly. In fact, the five biggest contributors produced about 55% of the combined gains from the holdings measured, showing how a few key stocks can power a fund that looks broadly diversified on paper.

When you own an index fund, you own the math. And the math of the past year shows that your return was disproportionately influenced by a handful of standout performers.

The Engine Room: A Holding Did The Work Of Many

The single biggest contributor to the fund's return was Bloom Energy (BE). While it makes up just 1.8% of the fund, the stock returned stunningly over 1,000% the past year. A performance like that from even a small holding can have an outsized impact on the entire fund's result. The next largest lift came from TTM Technologies (TTMI), which returned +437% from a smaller 0.6% position in the fund.

Here is where the story gets more interesting. While a few names drove the bulk of the gains, the positive performance was incredibly widespread. Among the f

Fuente original: Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/real-drivers-behind-iwms-big-200440721.html)