Electronic Arts

Snap-on

Packaging Corp of America

Walmart

Ameriprise Financial

Costco

Visa

ConocoPhillips

Motorola Solutions

First Trust Capital Strength ETF

FTCS tracks an equally weighted US large-cap equity index targeting companies with a strong cash balance, low long-term debt, and high return on equity.

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 07/06/2006.

Should First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS) Be on Your Investing Radar?

A smart beta exchange traded fund, the First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS) debuted on 07/06/2006, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

Is First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund

Despite concerns about inflation and the likelihood of interest rates remaining high for long, U.S. stocks have shown resilience in recent weeks on earnings strength.

Time to Tap Wall Street ETFs on Earnings Strength?

First Trust Capital Strength ETF takes a smart-beta, concentrated approach to quality investing. This is an alluring strategy at first blush, yet returns appeared to be not as strong as investors might anticipate from a basket of companies that demonstrate 'capital strength.' Since my September 2023 note, FTCS's factor story has not changed much, yet there are nuances still worth addressing.

FTCS: Cash-Rich Quality Stories Still Lag The Market

FTCS is an $8.5 billion ETF that somehow flies under the radar. It shouldn't. The market is likely to again reward capital strength over sheer stock size, which bodes well for FTCS in 2024. I recently bought it in one of my investment accounts, and rate it Buy here.

FTCS: Finally, This ETF's Style Is Timely!

Tracking the Capital Strength index, FTCS adheres to the highest standards of quality, representing cash-rich companies with strong capital efficiency. Alas, FTCS has significantly underperformed the S&P 500 index since the previous note. Analyzing how the portfolio has changed since March, I noticed that quality has improved, but valuation characteristics have weakened.

As FTCS Disappoints Again, Let's Discuss The Factor Story

iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF

SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF

Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund

The Wall Street rally in the first half of 2023 involved a narrow market breadth. Hence, there were many ETF under-performers.

5 ETF Underdogs of 1H Likely to Turnaround in 2H

FTCS selects 50 large-cap stocks with high cash on hand, low debt loads, high returns on equity, and low realized volatility. Since 2006, it's delivered comparable returns to SPY. Quarterly reconstitutions drive 100%+ turnover rates, so FTCS can change on a whim. Today, FTCS offers an attractive growth and valuation combination that may interest short-term traders. FTCS is unique because it selects less-volatile, often smaller large-cap stocks, but still maintains high profitability. It also features strong earnings momentum, something its constituents didn't have last year.

FTCS: How This Capital Strength ETF's Fortunes Improved

FTCS is a solid quality-centered fund I attempt to cover at least on a quarterly basis. Since my December 2022 article, the fund has declined by about 5.6%, partly proving that my assessment of the valuation risks was correct.

FTCS: Grossly Profitable Companies, Yet Short On Value, Not A Buy

FTCS is an index-based fund offering concentrated exposure to U.S. stocks boasting solid cash on the balance sheet, with moderate debt and robust return on equity. FTCS has surprised us to the upside since my previous note, finishing ahead of the bellwether S&P 500 index for four full months in a row.

FTCS: Reassessing Expensive, Quality-Heavy, Growth-Light Equity Mix

FTCS holds 50 large-cap companies in equal weight based on cash on hand, debt as a percentage of market capitalization, return on equity, and volatility. Reconstitutions and rebalancings occur quarterly. The expense ratio is relatively high at 0.55%, but FTCS is one of the few large-cap blend ETFs to outperform the S&P 500 Index over the last ten years.

FTCS: Capital Strength Focused ETF Has Its Flaws

FTCS pursues cash-rich, debt-light large-cap U.S. companies capable of delivering returns on equity of at least 15%. FTCS keeps portfolio risk in check adding a volatility screen to its strategy.

First Trust Capital Strength ETF: Let Us Be Skeptical

Portfolio focuses on stocks with high quality balance sheets, substantial ROE, and low volatility. “Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships”. First Trust Capital Strength has $8.2 billion in AUM and is in the top 100 of ETF asset accumulation. The ETF is classified as a Core Large-Cap Strategy.

FTCS: Unique Core Portfolio With Strength Of Capital That You've Never Heard Of

Invesco QQQ

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

Vanguard Information Technology ETF

A slew of strong corporate earnings, especially from the banking sector and many others, coupled with an upbeat retail sales data rekindled investors interest in the stock market.

Investors Return to ETFs: 5 Hot Picks of Last Week

Only the Large Cap Blend, All Cap Value, and All Cap Blend styles earn Attractive-or-better ratings. The primary driver behind an Attractive fund rating is good portfolio management, or good stock picking, with low total annual costs.

Q3 2021 Investment Style Ratings For ETFs And Mutual Funds

When it comes to investment choices, investors can play offense, defense and even neutral market strategies. Rare are the strategies that allow investors to establish offensive and defensive postures under a single, efficient umbrella.

Play Offense and Defense with a Single Capital Strength ETF

The 2020 coronavirus market slide may seem like a distant memory today, but it taught investors some important lessons. One lesson was that when the going gets tough, it's best to side with sturdy companies while eschewing financially flimsy fare.

When Strength Matters, Focus on the FTCS ETF

VanEck Vectors BDC Income ETF

ClearBridge All Cap Growth ETF

First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund

First Trust Water ETF

First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF

iShares Global Utilities ETF

VanEck Mortgage REIT Income ETF

Plus, additional ETF changes and the launch of two more actively managed ETFs.

ETF Odds & Ends: Another Fund Converts

Blackrock US Carbon Transition Readiness ETF

Vanguard S&P 500 ETF

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

A few ETFs have garnered solid investor interest last week and will continue to be their darlings should the current market trends prevail.

5 Equity ETFs That Were Red-Hot Last Week

Invesco S&P 500 Minimum Variance ETF

SPDR MFS Systematic Core Equity ETF

Direxion Daily Small Cap Bull 3x Shares

Impact Shares YWCA Women's Empowerment

The Large Cap Blend style ranks second in Q1'21. Based on an aggregation of ratings of 61 ETFs and 660 mutual funds in the Large Cap Blend style.

Best And Worst Q1 2021: Large Cap Blend ETFs And Mutual Funds

ARK Innovation ETF

First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

Vanguard Value ETF

Invesco S&P SmallCap Quality ETF

Financial advisors weigh in on what ETFs and what themes they seeing working next year.

4 Top Advisor ETF Picks For 2021

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

Sometimes it's the little things that bring in the assets. 

Demand For Quality ETFs Uneven

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF

SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF

Proshares Online Retail ETF

Vanguard Total International Stock ETF

ETFs overall gathered about $18.5 billion capital last week, bringing year-to-date inflows of $352.6 billion, ahead of the $211.7 billion seen at this same time a year ago.

Weekly ETF Roundup: Broad U.S. Equity Tops

First Trust TCW Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF

First Trust Low Duration Opportunities ETF

First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund

In this post-coronavirus environment, the exchange traded fund industry, like many other market segments, has had to adapt to a new stay-at-home mindset. Take, for example, First Trust, which is known for their strength of hundreds of wholesalers and internal consultants, has changed the way it has done business to meet financial advisors whom can’t [.

News for First Trust Capital Strength ETF ETF (FTCS)