Should You Invest in the First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF (FXR)?

Launched on May 8, 2007, the First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX ETF (FXR) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market.

An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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. Industrials - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $793.45 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Industrials - Broad segment of the equity market. FXR seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Industrials Index before fees and expenses.

The StrataQuant Industrials Index is a modified equal-dollar weighted index designed by the AMEX to objectively identify and select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index that may generate positive alpha relative to traditional passive style indices through the use of the AlphaDEX screening methodology.

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 0.6%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.63%.

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.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector -- about 71.9% of the portfolio. Materials and Financials round out the top three.

The top 10 holdings account for about 14.56% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 13.47% so far this year and it's up approximately 18.46% in the last one year (as of 02/10/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $60.85 and $90.67.

The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 19.03% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 143 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables 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. FXR, then, is not a suitable option for investors seeking exposure to the Industrials ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.

First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF (AIRR) tracks Richard Bernstein Advisors American Industrial Renaissance Index and the State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) tracks Industrial Select Sector Index. First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF has $8.47 billion in assets, State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF has $29.93 billion. AIRR has an expense ratio of 0.7%, and XLI 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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