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

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, the First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF (FNY - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 04/19/2011.

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $338.98 million, 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

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, companies that fall under this category provide a stable and growth-heavy investment.

Qualities of growth stocks include faster growth rates compared to the broader market, as well as higher valuations and higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. Also, growth stocks are a type of equity that carries more risk compared to others. When you consider growth versus value, growth stocks are usually the clear winner in strong bull markets but tend to fall flat in nearly all other environments.

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 most expensive products in the space.

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

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 Industrials sector--about 28.70% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Microstrategy Incorporated (MSTR - Free Report) accounts for about 1.56% of total assets, followed by Vertiv Group Corp (VRT - Free Report) and Carvana Co. (class A) (CVNA - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 10.33% 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 9.35% so far this year and it's up approximately 27.15% in the last one year (as of 05/17/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $55.49 and $75.79.

The ETF has a beta of 1.12 and standard deviation of 22.38% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 226 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, FNY is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Growth area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF (VOT - Free Report) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $13.23 billion in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $14.35 billion. VOT has an expense ratio of 0.07% and IWP charges 0.23%.

Bottom-Line

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.

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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