First Trust Dorsey Wright Momt & Val ETF's Average People Pillar and Process Pillar ratings result in a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. The strategy merits an Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a substantial overweight position in momentum exposure and liquidity exposure compared with category peers. Momentum exposure is attributed to holding stocks currently on a winning streak and selling those that are on a downtrend. And a high liquidity exposure is rooted in stocks with higher trading volumes, lending managers more flexibility. The strategy's parent organization earns the firm an Average Parent Pillar rating. People Pillar and Parent Pillar ratings for this strategy are indirectly assigned by a Morningstar analyst rather than algorithmically derived. Please see the notes following each pillar section for more details. The details of assigning methods can be found in each pillar section.

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Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category index on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. First Trust Dorsey Wright Momt & Val ETF earns an Average Process Pillar rating. 

The main driver of the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, like Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Excellent risk-adjusted performance also strengthens the process. This can be seen in the fund's five-year alpha calculated relative to the category index, which suggests that the managers have shown skill in their allocation of risk. Lastly, the process is limited by the parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 29%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and outperformed their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. The parent's subpar success ratio suggests that the firm could do better across its fund lineup.

 This strategy targets deeper value plays than its peers’ average in the Mid-Cap Value Morningstar Category. But in terms of market capitalization, it is on par with peers. Examining additional factor exposure, this strategy has continually had exposure to high-momentum stocks compared with Morningstar Category peers in the last few years. Momentum is based on the premise that stocks that have recently outperformed will continue to outperform, and those that have underperformed will stay behind. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Momentum factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. This strategy has also exhibited a tilt towards more high-liquid assets over peers in recent years, evidenced by consistently holding companies with relatively higher trading volumes. More-liquid assets are easier to buy and sell without adversely moving their prices and tend to provide some ballast during market selloffs. They also are easier to sell to meet redemptions if a host of investors decide to leave the fund in a short period of time. Compared with category peers, however, the strategy had less Liquidity factor exposure in the latest month. Additionally, the managers have tended to overweight yield, shown by the portfolio's high exposure to stocks paying dividends or buying back shares. High-yield stocks tend to be associated with more mature, profitable businesses that can grow as well as provide a stream of income. Such stocks could suffer, however, if setbacks force them to cut their dividends. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Yield factor over its peers. More information on a fund and its respective category's factor exposure can be found in the Factor Profile module within the Portfolio section. 

 The portfolio is overweight in consumer cyclical and financial services relative to the category average by 11.7 and 6.5 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are industrials and technology, underweight the average by 9.4 and 5.5 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is positioned across 51 holdings and is relatively top-heavy. Of the strategy's assets, 29.2% are concentrated within the top 10 holdings, as opposed to the category’s 17.3% average. And in closing, in terms of portfolio turnover, looking at year-over-year movements, 223% of the fund's holdings have turned over, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Average

Process

First Trust’s team is good but unexceptional, earning the strategy an Average People Pillar rating. There’s a sizable bench of seven managers listed on the fund. Experience on the team is abundant, with 22 years of average portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 108 strategies, with a Bronze asset-weighted average Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating the potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate.  

 Note: This People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. Morningstar analysts evaluate the People Pillar for passive products at the brand level and may also differentiate by asset class. There is at least one other passive strategy at the firm that is covered by a Morningstar analyst, so the People Pillar rating of the fund is inherited from the rating that the Morningstar analyst assigned to investment vehicles under the same brand name.

People

First Trust meets the industry standard for stewardship, but it could do more to align itself with investors. It earns an Average Parent rating.

This is a team-oriented organization that eschews star managers. While exchange-traded funds represent the bulk of the firm's assets, First Trust bypasses the competitive market for low-cost beta funds, instead opting for complex strategies with higher management fees. However, the firm's focus on ETFs for future product development underpins its commitment to tax efficiency and transparency. Some of its thematic strategies appear trendy, but it stands behind them and rarely liquidates funds. 

The firm is a private partnership, controlled by Jim Bowen, the CEO. Many senior managers are limited partners. This ownership structure helps the firm stay focused on the long term and promotes retention, which has been strong for the investment team. The firm has grown considerably over the past decade and is among the largest providers of actively managed ETFs, as well as unit investment trusts. As it has grown, the firm has expanded its investment team and beefed up its technology infrastructure.

First Trust's focus is on educating advisors and providing them solutions. This may benefit investors indirectly, but First Trust could do more to directly align with investors by cutting fees and limiting trendy strategies.

Parent

First Trust Dorsey Wright Momentum & Value ETF

DVLU tracks an index of 50 large- and mid-cap value stocks exhibiting relative strength. Holdings are weighted by value metrics.

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