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Is First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX ETF (FXH) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market, the First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX ETF (FXH - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 05/08/2007.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.
This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.27 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Health Care Index.
The StrataQuant Health Care Index employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for FXH are 0.62%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
FXH's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.24%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector - about 100% of the portfolio.
Taking into account individual holdings, Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH - Free Report) accounts for about 2.41% of the fund's total assets, followed by Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP - Free Report) and Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 21.56% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 0.22% so far this year and is down about -6.70% in the last one year (as of 01/23/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $90.04 and $114.21.
FXH has a beta of 0.76 and standard deviation of 17.02% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 85 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Health Care 25/50 Index and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV - Free Report) tracks Health Care Select Sector Index. Vanguard Health Care ETF has $17.03 billion in assets, Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF has $39.64 billion. VHT has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLV charges 0.10%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Is First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX ETF (FXH) a Strong ETF Right Now?
Designed to provide broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market, the First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX ETF (FXH - Free Report) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 05/08/2007.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.
This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.27 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. Before fees and expenses, this particular fund seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Health Care Index.
The StrataQuant Health Care Index employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for FXH are 0.62%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
FXH's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 0.24%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector - about 100% of the portfolio.
Taking into account individual holdings, Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH - Free Report) accounts for about 2.41% of the fund's total assets, followed by Medpace Holdings, Inc. (MEDP - Free Report) and Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 21.56% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added roughly 0.22% so far this year and is down about -6.70% in the last one year (as of 01/23/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $90.04 and $114.21.
FXH has a beta of 0.76 and standard deviation of 17.02% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 85 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Health Care 25/50 Index and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV - Free Report) tracks Health Care Select Sector Index. Vanguard Health Care ETF has $17.03 billion in assets, Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF has $39.64 billion. VHT has an expense ratio of 0.10% and XLV charges 0.10%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.