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Should You Invest in the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN)?

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The First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN - Free Report) was launched on 06/19/2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market.

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.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Technology - Internet is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 5, placing it in top 31%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $7.14 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market. FDN seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index before fees and expenses.

The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index includes only companies whose primary focus is Internet-related.

Costs

When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.49%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector--about 33.90% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) accounts for about 10.36% of total assets, followed by Meta Platforms Inc. (class A) (META - Free Report) and Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 60.65% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 9.87% so far this year and it's up approximately 27.92% in the last one year (as of 07/09/2025). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $183.68 and $269.33.

The ETF has a beta of 1.17 and standard deviation of 26.13% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 42 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF 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, FDN is a great 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.

ALPS (OGIG - Free Report) tracks OSHARES GLOBAL INTERNET GIANTS INDEX and the Invesco NASDAQ Internet ETF (PNQI - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ Internet Index. ALPS has $157.31 million in assets, Invesco NASDAQ Internet ETF has $771.22 million. OGIG has an expense ratio of 0.48% and PNQI charges 0.60%.

Bottom Line

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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