Launched on 10/25/2022, the First Trust Growth Strength ETF (FTGS) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.
Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide 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.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.
FTGS is managed by First Trust Advisors, and this fund has amassed over $1.16 billion, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. Before fees and expenses, FTGS seeks to match the performance of the THE GROWTH STRENGTH INDEX .
The Growth Strength Index provides exposure to a mix of domestic equities with filters for liquidity, return on equity, long-term debt, revenue and cash flow growth.
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
With one of the more expensive products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.60%.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.33%.
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Representing 30.7% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Financials and Industrials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Vertiv Holdings Co (VRT) accounts for about 2.62% of total assets, followed by Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) and The Trade Desk, Inc. (class A) (TTD).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 24.08% of FTGS's total assets under management.
The ETF has added roughly 10.5% and was up about 12.94% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 07/10/2025), respectively. FTGS has traded between $26.62 and $34.67 during this last 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 17.98% for the trailing three-year period. With about 51 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
First Trust Growth Strength ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth ETF has $176.96 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $356.12 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.04% and QQQ changes 0.20%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Growth
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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