SCHWAB STRATEGIC TRUST Form N-CSR Filed 2020-11-06
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION FORM N-CSR Certified annual shareholder report of registered management investment companies filed on Form N-CSR Filing Date: 2020-11-06 | Period of Report: 2020-08-31 SEC Accession No. 0001193125-20-287821 (HTML Version on secdatabase.com) FILER SCHWAB STRATEGIC TRUST Mailing Address Business Address 211 MAIN STREET 211 MAIN STREET CIK:1454889| IRS No.: 000000000 | State of Incorp.:DE | Fiscal Year End: 1231 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94105 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94105 Type: N-CSR | Act: 40 | File No.: 811-22311 | Film No.: 201293728 1-415-667-7000 Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM N-CSR CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES Investment Company Act file number: 811-22311 Schwab Strategic Trust Schwab U.S. Equity ETFs and Schwab International Equity ETFs (Exact name of registrant as specified in charter) 211 Main Street, San Francisco, California 94105 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code) Jonathan de St. Paer Schwab Strategic Trust Schwab U.S. Equity ETFs and Schwab International Equity ETFs 211 Main Street, San Francisco, California 94105 (Name and address of agent for service) Registrants telephone number, including area code: (415) 636-7000 Date of fiscal year end: August 31 Date of reporting period: August 31, 2020 Item 1: Report(s) to Shareholders. Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document Annual Report | August 31, 2020 Schwab International Equity ETFs Schwab International Equity ETF SCHF Schwab International Small-Cap Equity SCHC ETF Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF SCHE New Notice Regarding Shareholder Report Delivery Options Beginning on January 1, 2021, paper copies of a fund’s shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the reports from your financial intermediary (such as a bank or broker-dealer). Instead, the reports will be made available on a fund’s website www.schwabfunds.com/schwabetfs_prospectus, and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and the mailing will provide a website link to access the report. You will continue to receive other fund regulatory documents (such as prospectuses or supplements) in paper unless you have elected to receive all fund documents electronically. If you would like to receive a fund’s future shareholder reports in paper free of charge after January 1, 2021, you can make that request: • If you invest through Charles Schwab & Co, Inc. (broker-dealer), by calling 1-866-345-5954 and using the unique identifier attached to this mailing; or Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document • If you invest through another financial intermediary (such as a bank or broker-dealer) by contacting them directly. If you already receive shareholder reports and other fund documents electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document This page is intentionally left blank. Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document In This Report Performance at a Glance 2 From the President 3 The Investment Environment 4 Fund Management 6 Performance and Fund Facts Schwab International Equity ETF 7 Schwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF 10 Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF 13 Fund Expenses 16 Financial Statements and Condensed Portfolio Holdings Schwab International Equity ETF 17 Schwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF 24 Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF 31 Financial Notes 38 Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm 49 Other Federal Tax Information 50 Other Information 51 Investment Advisory Agreement Approval 52 Trustees and Officers 55 Glossary 59 Fund investment adviser: Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (CSIM) Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document Distributor: SEI Investments Distribution Co. (SIDCO) The Sector/Industry classifications in this report use the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) which was developed by and is the exclusive property of MSCI Inc. (MSCI) and Standard & Poor’s (S&P). GICS is a service mark of MSCI and S&P and has been licensed for use by Charles Schwab & Co, Inc. 1 Schwab International Equity ETFs | Annual Report Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document Table of Contents Schwab International Equity ETFs Performance at a Glance The performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit www.schwabfunds.com/schwabetfs_prospectus. TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDED AUGUST 31, 2020 Schwab International Equity ETF (Ticker Symbol: SCHF) Market Price Return1 6.72% NAV Return1 7.37% FTSE Developed ex US Index (Net)* 7.23% ETF Category: Morningstar Foreign Large Blend2 6.96% Performance Details pages 7-9 Schwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF (Ticker Symbol: SCHC) Market Price Return1 8.77% NAV Return1 9.63% FTSE Developed Small Cap ex US Liquid Index (Net)* 9.43% ETF Category: Morningstar Foreign Small/Mid Blend2 7.36% Performance Details pages 10-12 Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (Ticker Symbol: SCHE) Market Price Return1 12.77% NAV Return1 12.76% FTSE Emerging Index (Net)* 12.97% ETF Category: Morningstar Diversified Emerging Markets2 12.35% Performance Details pages 13-15 All total returns on this page assume dividends and distributions were reinvested. Index figures do not include trading and management costs, which would lower performance. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested in directly. Performance results less than one year are not annualized. For index definitions, please see the Glossary. Performance does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on fund distributions or on the redemption or sale of fund shares. Shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than the net asset value (NAV). Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. Index ownership — FTSE is a trademark of the London Stock Exchange Group companies (LSEG) and is used by the Schwab International Equity ETFs under license. The Schwab International Equity ETFs are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by FTSE nor LSEG and neither FTSE nor LSEG makes any representation regarding the advisability of investing in shares of the funds. Fees payable under the license are paid by the investment adviser. * The total return cited for the index is calculated net of foreign withholding taxes; the underlying tax rate information is available from FTSE. 1 ETF performance must be shown based on both a market price and NAV basis. The fund’s per share NAV is the value of one share of the fund. NAV is calculated by taking the fund’s total assets (including the market value of securities owned), subtracting liabilities, and dividing by the number of shares outstanding. The NAV Return is based on the NAV of the fund, and the Market Price Return is based on the market price per share of the fund. The price used to calculate market return (Market Price) is determined using the Official Closing Price on the primary stock exchange (generally, 4:00 p.m. Eastern time) and may not represent the returns you would receive if shares were traded at other times. Market Price and NAV returns assume that dividends and capital gain distributions have been reinvested in the fund at Market Price and NAV, respectively. 2 Source for category information: Morningstar, Inc. The Morningstar Category return represents all passively- and actively-managed ETFs within the category as of the report date. 2 Schwab International Equity ETFs | Annual Report Copyright © 2020 www.secdatabase.com. All Rights Reserved. Please Consider the Environment Before Printing This Document Table of Contents Schwab International Equity ETFs From the President Dear Shareholder, The 12-month reporting period ended August 31, 2020 has been witness to a number of historic events that have significantly impacted lives on both a personal and economic level. This period was also one of the most volatile investing environments on record. Up until the last week of February, U.S. stock market performance was strong, with the longest bull market cycle in history continuing and major equity indices hitting new highs. But the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world brought many economies to an abrupt halt and sent stock markets reeling. A new record was set for the fastest U.S. market decline, with the S&P 500® Index, a bellwether for the overall U.S. stock market, dropping 30% over just 22 trading days in late February and early March. International markets also saw similar sell-offs. Jonathan de St. Paer President of Charles Schwab Stocks then rebounded almost as quickly as they fell, however. Major equity indices Investment Management, Inc. began to regain losses in April before reaching new highs in August—even as and the funds covered economic uncertainty continued amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For the in this report. 12-month reporting period ended August 31, 2020, the S&P 500® Index returned “ That’s why at Charles 21.9%, while the MSCI EAFE® Index (Net)*, a broad measure of developed Schwab Investment international equity performance, returned 6.1%. Management we are Recent market volatility is a reminder of the importance of having a long-term committed to investing plan and a diversified portfolio.