Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Should You Invest in the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN)?

Read MoreHide Full Article

Looking for broad exposure to the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market? You should consider the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 06/19/2006.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Internet is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 6, placing it in top 38%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $5.91 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market. FDN seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index includes only companies whose primary focus is Internet-related.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.52%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 43.70% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) accounts for about 9.34% of total assets, followed by Meta Platforms Inc. (class A) (META - Free Report) and Alphabet Inc. (class A) (GOOGL - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 51.45% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF has gained about 48.87% so far, and it's up approximately 45.20% over the last 12 months (as of 12/18/2023). FDN has traded between $118.96 and $183.33 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.11 and standard deviation of 30.80% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 43 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, FDN is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK - Free Report) tracks ---------------------------------------- and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW - Free Report) tracks N/A. Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF has $791.29 million in assets, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF has $1.71 billion. BLOK has an expense ratio of 0.75% and ARKW charges 0.88%.

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.

Published in