Inspire Small/Mid Cap ETF

Inspire Small/Mid Cap ETF (ISMD) tracks the Inspire Small/Mid Cap Index. The index splits its money evenly between US small and mid-sized companies and leaves out businesses that its adviser, Inspire Investing, finds out of line with biblical values. That faith-based screen is the main thing that sets it apart. The trade-off is cost: its 0.53% expense ratio is the highest of nine similar small-cap funds, which average 0.21%.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, ISMD returned +22.0%, 2nd of 9 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +8.6%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 41.8% and regained its old high 8 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-13.5%); its best was 2021 (+29.4%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 44.6% (Aug 29, 2018 to Mar 23, 2020), recovered by Dec 4, 2020.

As of May 31, 2026, the fund held 498 securities; the ten largest made up 6.6% of assets.

• Over the three months to May 31, 2026, investors added a net $21.5M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -3.99%, +11.52%, +5.20%.

ISMD aims to match the performance of the Inspire Small/Mid Cap Index, before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 80% of its total assets in the index's stocks. Inspire Investing, LLC is both the fund's adviser and the index provider, so the same firm designs the index and runs the fund. Inspire defines mid-sized companies as the second-largest 10% of the US stock market by size, and small companies as the next 10%. Under normal circumstances, the index is half small companies and half mid-sized ones.

To get in, a company needs an Inspire Impact Score of zero or higher. This in-house score rates how well a company aligns with biblical values and how it affects its customers, communities and workers. Companies found in excluded categories get negative scores and are dropped. Those categories include abortion-related drugs and services, alcohol, cannabis, gambling, embryonic stem cells and in vitro fertilization. The prospectus warns that the scores reflect Inspire's own view and may not pick up new information right away.

As of May 31, 2026, the fund held 498 stocks, and the 10 largest made up just 6.6% of assets. The largest, Agilon Health, was about 2%. The fund held no derivatives. Its portfolio turnover was 47%, which means a fair amount of trading. Those trading costs are not included in the expense ratio.

• ISMD charges 0.53% a year, versus an average of 0.21% for the similar funds below (9th of 9, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.3% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $54 in the first year and $665 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It holds about 500 small and mid-sized US companies picked with Inspire's biblical-values screen, and it has lost as much as 44.6% at its worst.

ISMD launched in 2017, so it missed the 2008 financial crisis. In the 2020 COVID crash, it fell nearly 42% in about a month, then regained its peak by November 2020. In the 2022 bear market, it dropped about 23% and needed nearly 15 months to recover. Its deepest drop, 44.6%, ran from August 2018 to March 2020, and its worst calendar year was 2018, down 19.2%. Selling shares or drawing income near those lows would have meant selling well below earlier highs.

It paid a 1.4% yield over the past year as of October 27, 2026, in quarterly payments. Its 0.53% expense ratio (annual fee) is the highest of nine funds compared; the other eight average 0.21%. On $10,000, the SEC's standard example puts costs at $665 over 10 years. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.