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 AgentBank of New York Mellon Corp
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 5/1/2023
The Investment Advisor has implemented fee breakpoints, which reduce the fund's investment management fee at certain assets levels. Please see the fund's Statement of Additional Information for full details.
Current Fund Data (as of 9/29/2023)
Closing NAV1$38.26
Closing Market Price2$38.46
Bid/Ask Midpoint$38.38
Bid/Ask Premium0.31%
30-Day Median Bid/Ask Spread30.75%
Total Net Assets$327,147,903
Outstanding Shares8,550,002
Daily Volume22,287
Average 30-Day Daily Volume40,712
Closing Market Price 52-Week High/Low$40.65 / $32.08
Closing NAV 52-Week High/Low$40.38 / $32.47
Number of Holdings (excluding cash)206
Top Holdings (as of 9/29/2023)*
Holding Percent
Is Yatirim Menkul Degerler A.S. 1.77%
Nuh Cimento Sanayi AS 1.46%
Asia Vital Components Co., Ltd. 1.44%
Is Gayrimenkul Yatirim Ortakligi A.S. 1.44%
Migros Ticaret A.S. 1.20%
Marcopolo SA (Preference) 1.16%
PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper Tbk 1.14%
Mitac Holdings Corp. 1.11%
Sok Marketler Ticaret AS 1.11%
Aygaz A.S. 1.06%

* Excluding cash.  Holdings are subject to change.

NAV History (Since Inception)
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Overall Morningstar RatingTM (as of 8/31/2023)4

Among 718 funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. This fund was rated 4 stars/718 funds (3 years), 4 stars/644 funds (5 years), 4 stars/389 funds (10 years) based on risk adjusted returns.
Distribution Information
Dividend per Share Amt (as of 10/1/2023)5$0.6517
30-Day SEC Yield (as of 8/31/2023)65.05%
12-Month Distribution Rate (as of 8/31/2023)74.12%
Index Yield (as of 8/31/2023)84.77%
Fund Characteristics (as of 8/31/2023)9
Maximum Market Cap.$6,800
Median Market Cap.$1,343
Minimum Market Cap.$148
Price/Earnings6.67
Price/Book1.02
Price/Cash Flow4.38
Price/Sales0.47
Top Country Exposure (as of 9/29/2023)
Country Percent
Taiwan 24.61%
Turkey 21.82%
Brazil 13.09%
China 8.52%
Indonesia 7.21%
Thailand 5.50%
South Africa 4.44%
Poland 3.93%
Malaysia 3.49%
Hong Kong 2.46%
Bid/Ask Premium/Discount (as of 9/29/2023)
  2022 Q1 2023 Q2 2023 Q3 2023
Days Traded at Premium 126 53 33 32
Days Traded at Discount 125 9 29 31
Top Sector Exposure (as of 9/29/2023)
Industrials 18.15%
Information Technology 15.53%
Materials 14.50%
Consumer Discretionary 10.46%
Energy 9.30%
Consumer Staples 8.61%
Utilities 7.26%
Real Estate 6.62%
Communication Services 4.06%
Financials 3.41%
Health Care 2.10%
Hypothetical Growth of $10,000 Since Inception (as of 9/28/2023) *