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Should You Invest in the First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG)?

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The First Trust Natural Gas ETF (FCG - Free Report) was launched on May 8, 2007, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Energy - Natural Gas segment of the equity market.

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.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Energy - Natural Gas is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 3, placing it in top 19%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $656.87 million, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Natural Gas segment of the equity market. FCG seeks to match the performance of the ISE-REVERE Natural Gas Index before fees and expenses.

The ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index is an equal-weighted index comprised of exchange-listed companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the exploration and production of natural gas.

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 0.59%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.23%.

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 Energy sector -- about 97.5% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Conocophillips (COP) accounts for about 4.76% of total assets, followed by Western Midstream Partners Lp (WES) and Hess Midstream Lp (class A) (HESM).

The top 10 holdings account for about 41.48% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 27.99% so far this year and it's up approximately 27.45% in the last one year (as of 10/06/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $21.95 and $32.74.

The ETF has a beta of 0.59 and standard deviation of 27.17% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 43 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

First Trust Natural Gas 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, FCG is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Energy ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Global X U.S. Natural Gas ETF (LNGX) tracks GLOBAL X U.S. NATURAL GAS INDEX. The fund has $53.15 million in assets. LNGX has an expense ratio of 0.45%.

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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