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Should You Invest in the First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (FTXR)?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market, the First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF (FTXR - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 09/20/2016.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Transportation/Shipping is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $667.35 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Transportation/Shipping segment of the equity market. FTXR seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index before fees and expenses.

The Nasdaq US Smart Transportation Index is a modified factor weighted index, designed to provide exposure to US companies within the transportation industry.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.60%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.55%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector--about 61.90% of the portfolio, followed by Consumer Discretionary.

Looking at individual holdings, General Motors Company (GM - Free Report) accounts for about 8.87% of total assets, followed by Expeditors International Of Washington, Inc. (EXPD - Free Report) and C.h. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 59.53% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, FTXR return is roughly 0.53%, and is down about -0.58% in the last one year (as of 11/08/2020). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $12.80 and $25.34.

The ETF has a beta of 1.43 and standard deviation of 29.78% for the trailing three-year period. With about 31 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

First Trust NASDAQ Transportation ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, FTXR is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

IShares Transportation Average ETF (IYT - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones Transportation Average Index and the U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS - Free Report) tracks U.S. Global Jets Index. IShares Transportation Average ETF has $1.14 billion in assets, U.S. Global Jets ETF has $1.86 billion. IYT has an expense ratio of 0.42% and JETS charges 0.60%.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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