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Should First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY) Be on Your Investing Radar?
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The First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY - Free Report) was launched on 04/19/2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $200.12 M, making it the smallest ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Mid Cap Growth
With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. 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. Additionally, growth stocks have a greater level of risk 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
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.70%, making it the most expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.05%.
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 to the Information Technology sector--about 22.70% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Five Below Inc. (FIVE - Free Report) accounts for about 0.84% of total assets, followed by Eldorado Resorts Inc. and Etsy Inc. (ETSY - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 7.92% 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 roughly 8.34% so far this year and is down about -3.36% in the last one year (as of 01/17/2019). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $33.42 and $47.12.
The ETF has a beta of 1.09 and standard deviation of 16.40% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 225 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong 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 Style Box - Mid Cap Growth 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 $7.19 B in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $9.09 B. IJK has an expense ratio of 0.25% and IWP charges 0.25%.
Bottom-Line
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are 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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Should First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY) Be on Your Investing Radar?
The First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY - Free Report) was launched on 04/19/2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $200.12 M, making it the smallest ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Mid Cap Growth
With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. 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. Additionally, growth stocks have a greater level of risk 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
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.70%, making it the most expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.05%.
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 to the Information Technology sector--about 22.70% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Five Below Inc. (FIVE - Free Report) accounts for about 0.84% of total assets, followed by Eldorado Resorts Inc. and Etsy Inc. (ETSY - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 7.92% 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 roughly 8.34% so far this year and is down about -3.36% in the last one year (as of 01/17/2019). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $33.42 and $47.12.
The ETF has a beta of 1.09 and standard deviation of 16.40% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 225 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong 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 Style Box - Mid Cap Growth 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 $7.19 B in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $9.09 B. IJK has an expense ratio of 0.25% and IWP charges 0.25%.
Bottom-Line
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are 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.