Strategy. The Fund pursues a defensive investment style, seeking to provide downside protection with upside potential through active stock selection, risk management and diversification. The Fund seeks to pursue its investment objective by investing in securities in a disciplined manner, by using proprietary return forecast models that incorporate quantitative analysis. These forecast models are designed to prioritize insights that demonstrate downside protection as well as identify aspects of mispricing across stocks which the Fund can seek to capture by over- and under-weighting particular equity securities while seeking to control incremental risk. Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities issued by, or … Show more… The Fund pursues a defensive investment style, seeking to provide downside protection with upside potential through active stock selection, risk management and diversification. The Fund seeks to pursue its investment objective by investing in securities in a disciplined manner, by using proprietary return forecast models that incorporate quantitative analysis. These forecast models are designed to prioritize insights that demonstrate downside protection as well as identify aspects of mispricing across stocks which the Fund can seek to capture by over- and under-weighting particular equity securities while seeking to control incremental risk. Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities issued by, or tied economically to, companies in emerging markets and derivatives that have similar economic characteristics to such securities. Investments in derivatives are counted toward the Funds 80% policy to the extent that they provide investment exposure to one or more market risk factors associated with such securities. BlackRock considers an emerging market country to include any country that is: (1) generally recognized to be an emerging market country by the international financial community, including the World Bank; (2) classified by the United Nations as a developing country; or (3) included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the MSCI EM Index). BlackRock determines that an investment is tied economically to an emerging market if such investment satisfies one or more of the following conditions: (1) the issuers primary trading market is in an emerging market; (2) the issuer is organized under the laws of, derives at least 50% of its revenue from, or has at least 50% of its assets in emerging markets; or (3) the investment is included in an index representative of emerging markets. The Fund primarily intends to invest in equity securities, which include common stock, preferred stock and depositary receipts, or other financial instruments that are components of, or have characteristics similar to, the securities included in the MSCI EM Index. The MSCI EM Index is a capitalization-weighted index from a broad range of industries chosen for market size, liquidity and industry group representation. As of July 31, 2025, the issuers in the MSCI EM Index have a market capitalization ranging from $119.56 million to $957.46 billion. The Fund primarily seeks to buy common stock and may also invest in preferred stock. The Fund may also purchase convertible securities. From time to time, the Fund may invest in shares of companies through new issues or initial public offerings (IPOs). The Fund may use derivatives, including options, futures, swaps (including, but not limited to, total return swaps, some of which may be referred to as contracts for difference) and forward contracts both to seek to increase the return of the Fund and to hedge (or protect) the value of its assets against adverse movements in currency exchange rates, interest rates and movements in the securities markets. In order to manage cash flows into or out of the Fund effectively, the Fund may buy and sell financial futures contracts or options on such contracts. Derivatives are financial instruments whose value is derived from another security, a currency or an index, including but not limited to the MSCI EM Index. The use of options, futures, swaps (including, but not limited to, total return swaps, some of which may be referred to as contracts for difference) and forward contracts can be effective in protecting or enhancing the value of the Funds assets. The Fund seeks to pursue its investment objective by investing in securities in a disciplined manner, by using proprietary return forecast models that incorporate quantitative analysis. These forecast models are designed to prioritize insights that demonstrate downside protection as well as identify aspects of mispricing across stocks which the Fund can seek to capture by over- and under-weighting particular equity securities while seeking to control incremental risk. BlackRock then constructs and rebalances the portfolio by integrating its investment insights with the model-based optimization process. Show less