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Should First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, look no further than the First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 04/19/2011.

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $242.90 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Growth

Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. Compared to value stocks, growth stocks are a safer bet in a strong bull market, but don't perform as strongly in almost all other financial environments.

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 0.70%, making it one of the most expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.11%.

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 to the Information Technology sector--about 20% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Pbf Energy Inc. (PBF - Free Report) accounts for about 0.82% of total assets, followed by Sm Energy Company (SM - Free Report) and Cvr Energy, Inc. (CVI - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 7.82% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

FNY seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Mid Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses. The NASDAQ AlphaDEX Mid Cap Growth Index is an enhanced which employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the NASDAQ US 600 Mid Cap Growth Index.

The ETF has added about 6.86% so far this year and is up about 12.22% in the last one year (as of 10/15/2018). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $37.30 and $47.12.

The ETF has a beta of 0.96 and standard deviation of 14.17% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 224 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund 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, FNY is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Mid Cap ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK - Free Report) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP - Free Report) track a similar index. While iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF has $7.46 B in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $8.67 B. IJK has an expense ratio of 0.25% and IWP charges 0.25%.

Bottom-Line

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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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