First Trust Emerging Mrkts AlphaDEX® ETF's Average Process Pillar and People Pillar ratings result in a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral. The portfolio maintains a cost advantage over competitors, priced within the cheapest fee quintile among peers.  

 The strategy gets an Average Process Pillar. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant overweight position in momentum exposure and yield 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 yield exposure is rooted in holding high dividend-paying or buyback stocks. 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.

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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 Emerging Markets AlphaDEX®Fd earns an Average Process Pillar rating. 

The predominant contributor to the rating is that this fund tracks an index. Historical data, such as Morningstar's Active/Passive Barometer, finds that passively managed funds have generally outperformed their active counterparts, especially over longer time horizons. Respectable risk-adjusted performance also bolsters the rating. 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 beat their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. The parent's modest success ratio suggests that the firm could do better across its fund lineup.

 This strategy tends to hold smaller, more value-oriented companies compared with its average peer in the Diversified Emerging Mkts Morningstar Category. Analyzing additional factors, this strategy has consistently had exposure to high-momentum stocks compared with Morningstar Category peers over the past few years. Momentum is based on the premise that market outperformers will continue to outperform, and laggards will continue to lag. This means that managers are overweighting stocks currently on a winning streak. In recent months, the strategy was more exposed to the Momentum factor compared with its Morningstar Category peers as well. The managers have also tended to overweight yield during recent years, shown by the portfolio's high exposure to dividends or buybacks. High-yield stocks tend to be connected to more mature companies earning enough cash to return some to shareholders. At times, however, extreme market pressure can force them to cut their dividends, which hurts stock performance. Compared with category peers, the strategy also had more exposure to the Yield factor in the most recent month. Additionally, the managers have consistently taken on more risk, demonstrated by higher volatility exposure than peers. This orientation tends to pay off most prominently when markets are hot. In this month, the strategy also had more exposure to the Volatility 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 industrials and energy relative to the category average by 10.9 and 7.8 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are technology and consumer cyclical, underweight the average by 14.3 and 5.5 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is positioned across 163 holdings and its assets are more dispersed than peers in the category. In particular, 14.2% of the fund’s assets are concentrated in the top 10 fund holdings, compared to the typical peer's 25.3%.

Average

Process

First Trust’s  team is comparable to peers, resulting in an Average People Pillar rating. There’s a deep 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, demonstrating their potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate. This group has successfully retained management talent, with no departures in the past 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 Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Fund

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