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Should You Invest in the First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG)?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Technology - Telecom segment of the equity market, look no further than the First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 02/17/2011.

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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Telecom 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 $1.02 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Telecom segment of the equity market. NXTG seeks to match the performance of the INDXX 5G & NEXTG THEMATIC INDEX before fees and expenses.

The Indxx 5G & NextG Thematic Index tracks the performance of companies engaged in the smartphone segment of the telecom and technology sectors.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.70%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.08%.

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.

Looking at individual holdings, Broadcom Inc, (AVGO - Free Report) accounts for about 1.35% of total assets, followed by Tech Mahindra Ltd, (TECHM.IS) and Arista Networks, Inc, (ANET - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 13.13% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -5.99% and was up about 6.52% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 02/16/2022), respectively. NXTG has traded between $68.56 and $83.17 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.82 and standard deviation of 22.21% for the trailing three-year period. With about 101 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Indxx NextG 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, NXTG is an outstanding 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.


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Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) - free report >>

Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) - free report >>

First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG) - free report >>

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