Designed to provide broad exposure to the Technology - Telecom segment of the equity market, the First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on February 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 are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Telecom is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 1, placing it in top 6%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $407.07 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
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.7%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.53%.
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.Looking at individual holdings, Delta Electronics Inc. (2308.TT) accounts for about 2.27% of total assets, followed by Ciena Corporation (CIEN) and Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET).
The top 10 holdings account for about 16.78% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, NXTG return is roughly 22.16%, and is up about 18.87% in the last one year (as of 09/30/2025). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $74.67 and $104.94.
The ETF has a beta of 0.88 and standard deviation of 16.65% for the trailing three-year period. With about 117 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
First Trust Indxx NextG ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, NXTG is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
() tracks . The fund has $0.00 million in assets. has an expense ratio of 0%.
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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First Trust Indxx NextG ETF (NXTG): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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