Should You Invest in the First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX ETF (FXD)?

Designed to provide broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market, the First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX ETF (FXD) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 05/08/2007.

Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Consumer Discretionary - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 11, placing it in bottom 31%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.31 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Broad segment of the equity market. FXD seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Consumer Discretionary Index before fees and expenses.

The StrataQuant Consumer Discretionary Index employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.61%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.06%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector--about 75.80% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Staples round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Dutch Bros Inc. (class A) (BROS) accounts for about 1.97% of total assets, followed by Spotify Technology S.a. (SPOT) and Fox Corporation (class A) (FOXA).

The top 10 holdings account for about 16.17% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -9.55% and is down about -8.04% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 04/02/2025), respectively. FXD has traded between $56.39 and $68.52 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.27 and standard deviation of 22.22% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 122 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

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

Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Discretionary 25/50 Index and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) tracks Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index. Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF has $5.73 billion in assets, Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF has $20.09 billion. VCR has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLY charges 0.08%.

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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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