SUMMARY

We rate Powershares S&P 500 Low Vol Port at A+. This overall rating indicates it is among the top 10% of all closed end mutual funds in its peer group. Positive factors that influence this rating include a low price volatility and low expense structure. The fund invests approximately 100% of its assets in stocks and may be considered for investors seeking a Growth - Domestic strategy.

POSITIVES AND RISKS

New Fund off to good start in the last year. The Powershares S&P 500 Low Vol Port has returned an annual rate of 14.73% since inception. More recently, the fund has generated a total return of 17.26% in the last year, 9.03% in the last six months, and 7.43% in the last three months. How does that compare to other equity funds? In the last year, it has outperformed 82% of them for the period ending 2/28/2013. On a year to date basis, SPLV has returned 8.18%.

Downside risk has been below average. SPLV has a draw down risk of -1.74%, which is the largest price decline experienced since the inception of the fund. This fund has a one year standard deviation of 6.8%. This fund has had very little volatility in its monthly performance over the last 12 months. As of 2/28/2013, the fund was trading at a price of $29.70, which is 0.5% below its 52-week high of $29.84 and 2.7% above its 52-week low of $28.93.

Low expense ratio helps performance. On total assets of $3.09 billion, SPLV maintains a low expense ratio compared to its Growth - Domestic peers of just 0.25% to cover all operating costs. Brokerage costs for the fund to buy and sell shares are not included in the expense ratio. As SPLV is an exchange traded fund, it has no front end or back end load.

The Powershares S&P 500 Low Vol Port is managed by Michael C. Jeanette at Invesco Powershares Capital Mgmt LL. This fund is one of 110 Invesco Powershares Capital Mgmt LL exchange-traded funds launched since 5/1/2003 that we track.