First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX® Fund (FEMS)
Investment Objective/Strategy - The First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX® Fund is an exchange-traded fund. The investment objective of the Fund is to seek investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield, before the Fund's fees and expenses, of an equity index called the Nasdaq AlphaDEX® Emerging Markets Small Cap Index.
There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objectives will be achieved.
Index Description According to the Index Provider
  • The Index is an "enhanced" index created and administered by Nasdaq, Inc. ("Nasdaq") which employs the AlphaDEX® stock selection methodology to select stocks from the Nasdaq Emerging Markets Index that meet certain criteria.
  • To construct the Index, Nasdaq ranks the eligible stocks on growth factors including 3-, 6- and 12- month price appreciation, sales to price and one year sales growth, and separately on value factors including book value to price, cash flow to price and return on assets. All stocks are ranked on the sum of ranks for the growth factors and, separately, all stocks are ranked on the sum of ranks for the value factors. A stock must have data for all growth and/or value factors to receive a rank for that style.
  • Each stock receives the best style rank from the previous step as its selection score.
  • The top 200 stocks based on the selection score determined in the previous step comprise the "selected stocks". The selected stocks are divided into quintiles based on their rankings and the top ranked quintiles receive a higher weight within the index. The stocks are equally weighted within each quintile.
  • Each stock is then tested in order of its selection score rank to check if the weight assigned to that stock is outside the country/sector weighting constraints, which are set at 15% above the benchmark weight.
    • If the weight assigned to the stock, when added with the weight assigned to all higher ranking stocks in its country/sector, is greater than the constraint, then the stock's weight is lowered to the highest rank in the next quintile. Stocks previously lower in rank then move up one rank. Such stocks in the lowest quintile that violate a constraint are removed from the portfolio and replaced by the highest scoring stock not originally selected, subject to country/sector constraints. This process continues until all the country/sector weightings meet the constraint.
  • The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced semi-annually.
Fund Overview
TickerFEMS
Fund TypeInternational Equity
Investment AdvisorFirst Trust Advisors L.P.
Investor Servicing AgentBrown Brothers Harriman
CUSIP33737J307
ISINUS33737J3077
Intraday NAVFEMSIV
Fiscal Year-End12/31
ExchangeNasdaq
Inception2/15/2012
Inception Price$30.27
Inception NAV$30.27
Rebalance FrequencySemi-Annual
Expense Ratio*0.80%
* As of 5/2/2022
The Investment Advisor has implemented fee breakpoints, which reduce the fund's investment management fee at certain assets levels. Please see the fund's SAI for full details.
Current Fund Data (as of 3/24/2023)
Closing NAV1$37.05
Closing Market Price2$37.00
Bid/Ask Midpoint$37.00
Bid/Ask Discount0.15%
30-Day Median Bid/Ask Spread30.49%
Total Net Assets$290,876,970
Outstanding Shares7,850,002
Daily Volume90,352
Average 30-Day Daily Volume138,119
Closing Market Price 52-Week High/Low$42.08 / $31.66
Closing NAV 52-Week High/Low$41.86 / $31.50
Number of Holdings (excluding cash)209
Top Holdings (as of 3/24/2023)*
Holding Percent
Pegasus Hava Tasimaciligi AS 1.40%
Grupo Comercial Chedraui, S.A.B. de C.V. 1.35%
Dogan Sirketler Grubu Holding A.S. 1.31%
Cimsa Cimento Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. 1.26%
Is Yatirim Menkul Degerler A.S. 1.18%
Enerjisa Enerji AS 1.16%
Migros Ticaret A.S. 1.16%
Fitipower Integrated Technology Inc. 1.12%
Haci Omer Sabanci Holding A.S. 1.11%
Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA 1.10%

* Excluding cash.  Holdings are subject to change.

NAV History (Since Inception)
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Overall Morningstar RatingTM (as of 2/28/2023)4

Among 742 funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. This fund was rated 4 stars/742 funds (3 years), 4 stars/657 funds (5 years), 4 stars/395 funds (10 years) based on risk adjusted returns.
Distribution Information
Dividend per Share Amt (as of 3/25/2023)5$0.1001
30-Day SEC Yield (as of 2/28/2023)65.52%
12-Month Distribution Rate (as of 2/28/2023)74.65%
Index Yield (as of 2/28/2023)85.32%
Fund Characteristics (as of 2/28/2023)10
Maximum Market Cap.$15,128
Median Market Cap.$1,265
Minimum Market Cap.$237
Price/Earnings5.56
Price/Book0.99
Price/Cash Flow3.66
Price/Sales0.44
Top Country Exposure (as of 3/24/2023)
Country Percent
Taiwan 21.78%
Turkey 21.58%
Brazil 11.88%
China 10.64%
Thailand 8.62%
Indonesia 5.93%
Poland 3.74%
Hong Kong 3.47%
Mexico 3.23%
South Africa 3.04%
Bid/Ask Premium/Discount (as of 3/24/2023)
  2022 Q1 2023 Q2 2023 Q3 2023
Days Traded at Premium 126 48 --- ---
Days Traded at Discount 125 9 --- ---
Top Sector Exposure (as of 3/24/2023)
Materials 18.11%
Industrials 17.08%
Information Technology 16.29%
Consumer Staples 9.74%
Consumer Discretionary 8.54%
Energy 8.18%
Real Estate 5.48%
Financials 5.13%
Utilities 5.08%
Communication Services 3.29%
Health Care 3.08%
Hypothetical Growth of $10,000 Since Inception (as of 3/23/2023) *