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Is First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF (FXZ) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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Making its debut on 05/08/2007, smart beta exchange traded fund First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF (FXZ - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Materials ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
FXZ is managed by First Trust Advisors, and this fund has amassed over $1.49 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Materials ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Materials Index before fees and expenses.
The StrataQuant Materials Index is a modified equal-dollar weighted index designed by the AMEX to objectively identify and select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index that may generate positive alpha relative to traditional passive style indices through the use of the AlphaDEX screening methodology.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for FXZ are 0.64%, which makes it one of the more expensive products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.45%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For FXZ, it has heaviest allocation in the Materials sector --about 92.50% of the portfolio.
Taking into account individual holdings, United States Steel Corporation (X - Free Report) accounts for about 5.75% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nucor Corporation (NUE - Free Report) and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF - Free Report) .
FXZ's top 10 holdings account for about 46.3% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF has gained about 4.19% so far, and it's up approximately 12.34% over the last 12 months (as of 12/06/2022). FXZ has traded between $50.77 and $74.60 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.25 and standard deviation of 33.96% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 40 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Materials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB - Free Report) tracks Materials Select Sector Index and the FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR - Free Report) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index. Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $5.55 billion in assets, FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $7.31 billion. XLB has an expense ratio of 0.10% and GUNR charges 0.46%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Materials ETFs.
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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Is First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF (FXZ) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Making its debut on 05/08/2007, smart beta exchange traded fund First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF (FXZ - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Materials ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
FXZ is managed by First Trust Advisors, and this fund has amassed over $1.49 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Materials ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Materials Index before fees and expenses.
The StrataQuant Materials Index is a modified equal-dollar weighted index designed by the AMEX to objectively identify and select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index that may generate positive alpha relative to traditional passive style indices through the use of the AlphaDEX screening methodology.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for FXZ are 0.64%, which makes it one of the more expensive products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.45%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
For FXZ, it has heaviest allocation in the Materials sector --about 92.50% of the portfolio.
Taking into account individual holdings, United States Steel Corporation (X - Free Report) accounts for about 5.75% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nucor Corporation (NUE - Free Report) and Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF - Free Report) .
FXZ's top 10 holdings account for about 46.3% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF has gained about 4.19% so far, and it's up approximately 12.34% over the last 12 months (as of 12/06/2022). FXZ has traded between $50.77 and $74.60 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.25 and standard deviation of 33.96% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 40 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
First Trust Materials AlphaDEX ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Materials ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB - Free Report) tracks Materials Select Sector Index and the FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF (GUNR - Free Report) tracks Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index. Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF has $5.55 billion in assets, FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources ETF has $7.31 billion. XLB has an expense ratio of 0.10% and GUNR charges 0.46%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Materials ETFs.
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.