First Trust Water 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 receives an Average Process Pillar rating. Independent of the rating, analysis of the strategy's portfolio shows it has maintained a significant underweight position in volatility exposure and yield exposure compared with category peers. Low volatility exposure is attributed to stocks with a lower standard deviation of returns. And a low yield exposure is rooted in holding fewer stocks with high dividend or buyback yields -- instead, typically holding stocks in an early stage of development. 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

Veralto Corp

Ferguson PLC

Xylem

Agilent Technologies

Ecolab

American Water Works

Roper Technologies

IDEX

A. O. Smith

AECOM

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 Water ETF earns an Average Process Pillar rating. The main contributor to 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 ISE Clean Edge Water TM 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 track the performance of small, mid and large capitalization companies that derive a substantial portion of their revenues from the potable water and wastewater industry, and according to Clean Edge. 

 The portfolio is overweight in industrials and healthcare relative to the category average by 43.2 and 14.7 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are basic materials and energy, underweight the average by 43.0 and 27.8 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is composed of 38 holdings and is relatively concentrated. In particular, 42.1% of the strategy's assets are housed within the top 10 holdings, compared with the typical peer's 23.9%.

Average

Process

First Trust’s equity  team is comparable to peers, resulting in 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, demonstrating their potential to deliver positive alpha relative to the category median in aggregate. This group has had relatively low management turnover, providing a stable environment and continuity for the strategies. 

 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 Water ETF

FIW tracks an index of the 36 largest US-listed water companies, weighted equally within five tiers.

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News for First Trust Water ETF ETF (FIW)