First Trust Brazil AlphaDEX® ETF’s management team is rated Average, but a solid investment process still helps this strategy retain its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Silver. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the second-cheapest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy's sensible investment philosophy merits an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant overweight position in momentum exposure and quality 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 quality exposure is rooted in holding stocks that are consistently profitable, growing, and have solid balance sheets. The strategy’s management team earns an Average People Pillar rating. 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.

Analyst Rating

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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 Brazil AlphaDEX® Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating. 

The main driver of the rating is the fund's excellent long-term risk-adjusted performance. This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category average, which suggests that the managers have shown skill in their allocation of risk. This fund tracks an index, which also increases its process rating. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, shows that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. 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 beat 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 tends to hold smaller, more growth-oriented companies than its average peer in the Latin America Stock Morningstar Category. Analyzing additional factors, this strategy has continually had exposure to high-momentum stocks compared with Morningstar Category peers in the last few years. Momentum approaches bet that rising stocks will continue to rise and that lagging stocks will continue to lag. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Momentum factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. This strategy also has had a defensive tilt, with exposure to higher-quality stocks compared with peers in recent years. This means that the fund holds companies that are profitable, growing, and have solid balance sheets. High exposure to the quality factor means holding companies that are consistently profitable, growing, and have solid balance sheets. Compared with category peers, the strategy also had more exposure to the Quality factor in the most recent month. In addition, this strategy holds highly liquid companies. More-liquid assets contribute to more-flexible exit strategies without price changes and tend to be a ballast during market selloffs. For example, if the portfolio faces successive redemptions in a short period of time, it will be less likely to experience a significant loss. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Liquidity 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 utilities and technology relative to the category average by 10.6 and 8.1 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are financial services and energy, underweight the average by 9.1 and 7.9 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is composed of 52 holdings and its assets are more dispersed than peers in the category. In particular, 33.3% of the portfolio's assets are concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, compared to the category average's 39.1%.

Above 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. The team is well equipped, with an average of 22 years of portfolio management experience. Together, they manage a total of 108 strategies, with solid long-term prospects. The strategies average a Bronze asset-weighted Morningstar Medalist Rating, indicating a position to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate. This group has been working together for a while and has been successful in retaining talent compared to peers, with no departures in the last five years.  

 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.

Average

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 Brazil AlphaDEX Fund

FBZ tracks an index weighted in tiers and selected using growth and value factors.

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