Weakness in First Trust Core Investment Grade ETF's People and Process Pillar ratings limits this strategy to a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Negative. The strategy charges fees in line with its similarly distributed peers, priced within the middle quintile.  

 The strategy’s management team earns a Below Average People Pillar rating. The fund merits a Below Average Process 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

Morningstar's style-agnostic evaluation of this fund's process seeks to understand whether the strategy has a performance objective and sensible, repeatable execution. First Trust Core Investment Grade ETF earns a Below Average Process Pillar rating.    The process is strengthened by the scale of its portfolio management team. With six portfolio managers at the helm, the fund is well-staffed. However, the rating 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 modest success ratio suggests that the firm could do better across its fund lineup. The parent firm's inferior risk-adjusted performance, as shown by its average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 2.7 stars, also holds the rating back. A lower star rating suggests that the firm has struggled to outperform on a risk-adjusted basis.

 The investment strategy as stated in the fund's prospectus is as follows: 


The investment seeks to maximize long-term total return.  Under normal market conditions, the fund seeks to invest 100% of its investment portfolio in investment grade securities. Investment grade securities are those securities that are, at the time of purchase, rated as investment grade (i.e., rated Baa3/BBB- or above) by at least one nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”) rating such securities, or if unrated, and debt securities determined by the fund’s investment advisor to be of comparable quality. The fund is non-diversified.

Below Average

Process

First Trust Core Investment Grade ETF earns a Below Average People Pillar rating. James W. Snyder, the longest-tenured manager on the strategy, boasts over 25 years of listed portfolio management experience. The average Morningstar Rating of the strategies they currently manage is 5.0 stars, indicating that their risk-adjusted returns outperformed the category average. The team is composed of a solid supporting cast of five additional named managers, averaging 15 years of listed portfolio management experience.  None of the portfolio managers here invest in this fund. This hurts the rating because manager investment would align their interests with the strategy's investors.

 Note: The People Pillar rating is indirectly assigned by an analyst. The longest-tenured manager of the fund also manages a different product rated by an analyst. Their analyst-assigned People Pillar rating is combined here with the People scores (algorithmic or analyst-assigned) for the fund’s other managers on a tenure-weighted basis.

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.

Average

Parent

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