Designed to provide broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, the First Trust Dow 30 Equal Weight ETF (EDOW) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on August 8, 2017.
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $289.75 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.
Why Large Cap Blend
Large cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. They tend to be stable companies with predictable cash flows and are usually less volatile than mid and small cap companies.
Blend ETFs are aptly named, since they tend to hold a mix of growth and value stocks, as well as show characteristics of both kinds of equities.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.5%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.27%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector -- about 18.3% of the portfolio. Financials and Industrials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, The Boeing Company (BA) accounts for about 3.78% of total assets, followed by Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) and Visa Inc. (class A) (V).
The top 10 holdings account for about 34.73% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
EDOW seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Equal Weight Index before fees and expenses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Equal Weight Index is an equally weighted index designed to be a price neutral version of the price-weighted DJIA.
The ETF return is roughly 3.29% so far this year and is up roughly 14.74% in the last one year (as of 02/04/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $32.19 and $42.66.
The ETF has a beta of 0.87 and standard deviation of 12.6% for the trailing three-year period. With about 31 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
First Trust Dow 30 Equal Weight ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, EDOW is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) track a similar index. While iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $760.27 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $847.66 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VOO charges 0.03%.
Bottom-Line
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.
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 Dow 30 Equal Weight ETF (EDOW): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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