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Should You Invest in the First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG)?

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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Technology - Telecom segment of the equity market, the First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 02/17/2011.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Technology - Telecom is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 5, placing it in top 31%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $480.46 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Telecom segment of the equity market. NXTG seeks to match the performance of the INDXX 5G & NEXTG THEMATIC INDEX before fees and expenses.

The Indxx 5G & NextG Thematic Index tracks the performance of companies engaged in the smartphone segment of the telecom and technology sectors.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.70%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.51%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET - Free Report) accounts for about 1.66% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) and Ciena Corporation (CIEN - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 14.53% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the First Trust Indxx NextG ETF has lost about -29.46% so far, and is down about -22.86% over the last 12 months (as of 10/27/2022). NXTG has traded between $54.30 and $83.17 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.85 and standard deviation of 23.57% for the trailing three-year period. With about 102 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Indxx NextG ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. NXTG, then, is not a great choice for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

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