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

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The First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG - Free Report) was launched on 02/17/2011, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Technology - Telecom segment of the equity market.

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.

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 7, placing it in top 44%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $447.91 million, making it one of the average sized 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

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 more expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.04%.

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, Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET - Free Report) accounts for about 1.66% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) and Ciena Corporation (CIEN - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 14.53% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

So far this year, NXTG has lost about -25.20%, and is down about -22.41% in the last one year (as of 12/27/2022). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $54.30 and $83.17.

The ETF has a beta of 0.86 and standard deviation of 24.27% for the trailing three-year period. With about 102 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Indxx NextG ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. NXTG, then, is not a suitable option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

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