Neither process nor people stand out at First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF, but it gets enough right to help this strategy retain its Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze. The portfolio maintains a sizable cost advantage over competitors, priced within the least expensive fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy earns an Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained an overweight in liquidity exposure and an underweight in quality exposure compared with category peers. High liquidity exposure is attributed to stocks with a high trading volume, lending managers more flexibility. And a low quality exposure is rooted in stocks with higher financial leverage and lower profitability. 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

Amazon

Alphabet

salesforce.com

Netflix

Cisco Systems

PayPal

Airbnb

Arista Networks

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 Dow Jones Internet Fund earns an Average Process Pillar rating. The leading factor in 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. 

The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is:  The investment seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the fund's fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index SM (the "index").  The fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the index. The index is designed to measure the performance of the largest and most actively traded securities issued by U.S. companies in the Internet industry. The index is a composite of its two sub-indices and the Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index and the Dow Jones Internet Services Index. It is non-diversified. 

 The portfolio is overweight in communication services and consumer cyclical relative to the category average by 23.0 and 14.9 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are technology and industrials, underweight the average by 36.3 and 2.9 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is composed of 42 holdings and is about as top-heavy as the category average, with 52.8% of assets in the top 10 holdings.

Average

Process

First Trust’s equity team is valuable but does not stand out as one of the industry's best, warranting an Average People Pillar rating. There’s a deep 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.

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 Dow Jones Internet Index Fund

FDN tracks a market-cap-weighted index of the largest and most liquid US Internet companies.

If you're interested in broad exposure to the Technology - Internet segment of the equity market, look no further than the First Trust Dow Jones Internet ETF (FDN), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 06/19/2006.

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