IHDG offers a growth-skewed take on the developed ex-US and Canada space. Starting with developed markets outside North America, IHDG screens for quality and growth through a variety of factors: expected earnings growth, return-on-equity and return-on-assets. Selected securities are then weighted according to dividends paid over the preceding year. The index rebalances annually so that no individual security has a weight greater than 5% and each country or sector has a maximum weight of 20%. The portfolio is hedged for currency fluctuations against the USD. In employing this hedging strategy, the index uses forward currency contracts to mitigate risks associated with the movements of foreign currencies relative to USD.
