The First Trust NASDAQ Semiconductor ETF (FTXL) made its debut on 09/20/2016, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Technology ETFs category of the market.
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you’re the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors–think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting–not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
Managed by First Trust Advisors, FTXL has amassed assets over $378.89 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Technology ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq US Smart Semiconductor Index.
The Nasdaq US Smart Semiconductor Index is a modified factor weighted index, designed to provide exposure to US companies within the semiconductor industry.
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.60%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.53%.
ETFs offer 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.
Representing 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector.
Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) accounts for about 9.94% of total assets, followed by Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) and Intel Corporation (INTC).
FTXL’s top 10 holdings account for about 62.78% of its total assets under management.
