Should First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, the First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY) 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 $292.61 M, making it one of the smaller ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Growth

Compared to large and small cap companies, mid cap businesses tend to have higher growth prospects and are less volatile, respectively, with market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

While growth stocks do boast higher than average sales and earnings growth rates, and they are expected to grow faster than the wider market, investors should note these kinds of stocks have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.70%, making it the most expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.10%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 24.70% of the portfolio. Industrials and Healthcare round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Insulet Corporation (PODD) accounts for about 0.98% of total assets, followed by Fti Consulting, Inc. (FCN) and Novocure Limited (NVCR).

The top 10 holdings account for about 8.91% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

FNY seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Mid Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses. The NASDAQ AlphaDEX Mid Cap Growth Index is an enhanced which employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the NASDAQ US 600 Mid Cap Growth Index.

The ETF has added roughly 26.30% so far this year and was up about 6.65% in the last one year (as of 10/18/2019). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $33.42 and $47.28.

The ETF has a beta of 1.08 and standard deviation of 16.92% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 226 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Mid 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, FNY is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP) track a similar index. While iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF has $7.24 B in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $10.83 B. IJK has an expense ratio of 0.24% and IWP charges 0.24%.

Bottom-Line

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.

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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First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FNY): ETF Research Reports
 
iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP): ETF Research Reports
 
Insulet Corporation (PODD) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
NovoCure Limited (NVCR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK): ETF Research Reports
 
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