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Should First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FYC) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, the First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FYC - 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 $367.19 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Small Cap Growth

Sitting at a market capitalization below $2 billion, small cap companies tend to be high-potential stocks compared to its large and mid cap counterparts, but come with higher risk.

Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Additionally, growth stocks have a greater level of risk associated with them. Compared to value stocks, growth stocks are a safer bet in a strong bull market, but don't perform as strongly in almost all other financial environments.

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 most expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.14%.

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 to the Healthcare sector--about 28.40% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Biotelemetry, Inc. (BEAT - Free Report) accounts for about 0.74% of total assets, followed by Yext, Inc. (YEXT - Free Report) and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. .

The top 10 holdings account for about 7.07% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

FYC seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Small Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses. The NASDAQ AlphaDEX Small Cap Growth Index is an enhanced which employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the NASDAQ US 700 Small Cap Growth Index.

The ETF has gained about 16.78% so far this year and was up about 28.63% in the last one year (as of 08/07/2018). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $37.25 and $50.86.

The ETF has a beta of 1.02 and standard deviation of 16.74% for the trailing three-year period, making it a high risk choice in the space. With about 262 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund 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, FYC is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Small Cap ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF (VBK - Free Report) and the iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF has $8.59 B in assets, iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF has $11 B. VBK has an expense ratio of 0.07% and IWO charges 0.24%.

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.