First Trust NASDAQ Technology Div ETF's Average Process Pillar and People Pillar ratings result in a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Neutral. 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 a significant underweight position in liquidity exposure and quality exposure compared with category peers. Low liquidity risk exposure is attributed to stocks with a low trading volume, limiting managers' 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

Microsoft

Broadcom

Apple

Texas Instruments

Oracle

QUALCOMM

Analog Devices

Cisco Systems

Verizon

Morningstar's evaluation of this security's process aims to determine the likelihood that it will outperform its Morningstar Category benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. First Trust NASDAQ Technology Div Fd earns an Average Process Pillar rating. 

The most important driver of 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. The stability of the management team also strengthens the process. Specifically, the fund has not seen a manager change in the last 11 years. Lastly, the process is limited by its parent firm's subpar risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 2.7 stars. A lower star rating suggests that the firm has struggled to outperform on a risk-adjusted basis.

 This strategy leans toward smaller, more undervalued companies compared with its average peer in the Technology Morningstar Category. Analyzing additional factors, this strategy continually held some stocks with low trading volume over the last few years. Less-liquid stocks might offer strong returns to compensate for their risks, but they can be harder and more expensive to trade in bear markets. In the latest month, the strategy was also less exposed to the Liquidity factor compared with Morningstar Category peers. The strategy has also had a defensive tilt, demonstrated by lower exposure to the quality factor than peers in recent years. This means the fund has avoided holding companies that are consistently profitable, growing, and have solid balance sheets. Such positions do not tend to provide much ballast for a portfolio. Similarly, in recent months, the strategy also had less exposure to the Quality factor than peers. In addition, this strategy has an underweight bias to the volatility factor, meaning investing in stocks that have a lower standard deviation of returns. These companies have historically been a valuable ballast to steady portfolio returns during market downturns. In recent months, the strategy also had less Volatility factor exposure than 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 technology and communication services relative to the category average by 8.4 and 2.9 percentage points, respectively. The sectors with low exposure compared to category peers are consumer cyclical and industrials, underweight the average by 4.4 and 2.6 percentage points of assets, respectively. The portfolio is composed of 86 holdings and is quite concentrated. Specifically, 55.2% of the fund’s assets are housed within the top 10 holdings, compared to the category average of 52.3%. And in closing, in terms of portfolio turnover, looking at year-over-year movements, 43% of the fund's holdings have changed, whether through increasing, decreasing, or changing a position.

Average

Process

First Trust’s 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 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 NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund

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