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Should You Invest in the First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF (FXR)?

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Launched on May 8, 2007, the First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF (FXR - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad 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.

Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Industrials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 12, placing it in bottom 25%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.72 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. FXR seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Industrials Index before fees and expenses.

The StrataQuant Industrials Index is a modified equal-dollar weighted index designed by the AMEX to objectively identify and select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index that may generate positive alpha relative to traditional passive style indices through the use of the AlphaDEX screening methodology.

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 0.6%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.72%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 71.6% of the portfolio. Materials and Financials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Rocket Lab Corporation (RKLB) accounts for about 1.71% of total assets, followed by Knight-swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (KNX) and Bwx Technologies, Inc. (BWXT).

The top 10 holdings account for about 13.08% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 6.52% and is down about 2.12% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 12/08/2025), respectively. FXR has traded between $60.85 and $80.536 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 19.06% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 143 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

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

Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Industrials 25/50 Index and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. Vanguard Industrials ETF has $6.36 billion in assets, Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $24.82 billion. VIS has an expense ratio of 0.09%, and XLI charges 0.08%.

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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