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First Trust Merger Arbitrage ETF (MARB)
Investment Objective/Strategy - The First Trust Merger Arbitrage ETF's investment objective is to seek to provide investors with capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by establishing long and short positions in the equity securities of companies that are involved in a publicly-announced significant corporate event, such as a merger or acquisition.
There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objectives will be achieved.
Fund Overview
TickerMARB
Fund TypeMarket Neutral
Investment AdvisorFirst Trust Advisors L.P.
Investor Servicing AgentBank of New York Mellon Corp
Portfolio Manager/Sub-AdvisorFirst Trust Capital Management L.P.
CUSIP33740J203
ISINUS33740J2033
Intraday NAVMARBIV
Fiscal Year-End07/31
ExchangeNYSE Arca
Inception2/4/2020
Inception Price$20.01
Inception NAV$20.01
Fees And Expenses
Management Fees1.25%
Other Expenses0.55%
Total Annual Expenses1.80%
As of Date 11/17/2023
"Other Expenses" consist of margin interest expense and dividend expense on investments sold short.
Current Fund Data (as of 3/27/2024)
Closing NAV1$19.84
Closing Market Price2$19.87
Bid/Ask Midpoint$19.84
Bid/Ask Premium0.00%
30-Day Median Bid/Ask Spread30.15%
Total Net Assets$46,626,723
Outstanding Shares2,350,002
Daily Volume20,226
Average 30-Day Daily Volume21,031
Closing Market Price 52-Week High/Low$20.43 / $19.60
Closing NAV 52-Week High/Low$20.42 / $19.61
Number of Holdings (excluding cash)26
Top Holdings - Long Exposure (as of 3/27/2024)*
Holding Percent
Albertsons Companies, Inc. (Class A) 5.33%
Pioneer Natural Resources Company 5.25%
Amedisys, Inc. 4.62%
Axonics, Inc. 4.09%
United States Steel Corporation 3.88%
ANSYS, Inc. 3.66%
Juniper Networks, Inc. 3.52%
Discover Financial Services 3.17%
Hess Corporation 3.10%
Cerevel Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. 3.06%

* Excluding cash.  Holdings are subject to change.

Top Holdings - Short Exposure (as of 3/27/2024)*
Holding Percent
Exxon Mobil Corporation -5.66%
Capital One Financial Corporation -3.65%
Chevron Corporation -3.30%
Sunoco LP -2.52%
Provident Financial Services, Inc. -2.22%
Synopsys, Inc. -2.08%

* Excluding cash.  Holdings are subject to change.

NAV History (Since Inception)
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Distribution Information
Dividend per Share Amt (as of 3/28/2024)4$0.1481
30-Day SEC Yield (as of 2/29/2024)50.63%
12-Month Distribution Rate (as of 2/29/2024)62.24%
Fund Characteristics - Long Exposure (as of 2/29/2024)7
Maximum Market Cap.$54,946
Median Market Cap.$3,214
Minimum Market Cap.$389
Price/Book2.65
Price/Cash Flow8.54
Price/Sales0.87
Fund Characteristics - Short Exposure (as of 2/29/2024)7
Maximum Market Cap.$415,049
Median Market Cap.$208,089
Minimum Market Cap.$1,130
Price/Earnings9.12
Price/Book1.28
Price/Cash Flow7.57
Price/Sales1.41
Fund Exposure (as of 3/27/2024)
Long Exposure58.85%
Short Exposure-19.43%
Net Exposure39.42%
Top Sector - Long Exposure (as of 3/27/2024)
Percent
Health Care 14.78%
Energy 10.77%
Financials 7.41%
Information Technology 7.18%
Consumer Staples 5.33%
Consumer Discretionary 4.87%
Industrials 4.63%
Materials 3.88%
Top Sector - Short Exposure (as of 3/27/2024)
Percent
Energy -11.48%
Financials -5.87%
Information Technology -2.08%
Bid/Ask Premium/Discount (as of 3/27/2024)
  2023 Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 2024
Days Traded at Premium 88 12 --- ---
Days Traded at Discount 162 48 --- ---
Hypothetical Growth of $10,000 Since Inception (as of 3/27/2024) *


Month End Performance (as of 2/29/2024)
  3 Month YTD 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Since
Fund
Inception8
Fund Performance *
Net Asset Value (NAV) -1.32% -2.28% 0.38% 1.58% N/A N/A 0.46%
After Tax Held -1.61% -2.28% -0.51% 1.14% N/A N/A 0.14%
After Tax Sold -0.77% -1.35% 0.23% 1.03% N/A N/A 0.22%
Market Price -1.32% -2.18% 0.38% 1.58% N/A N/A 0.46%
Index Performance **
Credit Suisse Merger Arbitrage Liquid Index -0.45% -1.39% 3.84% 3.00% N/A N/A 3.42%
S&P 500® Index 11.98% 7.11% 30.45% 11.91% N/A N/A 13.14%
Quarter End Performance (as of 12/29/2023)
  3 Month YTD 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Since
Fund
Inception8
Fund Performance *
Net Asset Value (NAV) 0.93% 2.56% 2.56% 2.19% N/A N/A 1.07%
After Tax Held 0.63% 1.66% 1.66% 1.75% N/A N/A 0.74%
After Tax Sold 0.55% 1.51% 1.51% 1.49% N/A N/A 0.68%
Market Price 0.93% 2.36% 2.36% 2.15% N/A N/A 1.05%
Index Performance **
Credit Suisse Merger Arbitrage Liquid Index 1.67% 5.40% 5.40% 4.44% N/A N/A 3.94%
S&P 500® Index 11.69% 26.29% 26.29% 10.00% N/A N/A 11.73%
3-Year Statistics (as of 2/29/2024)
  Standard Deviation Alpha Beta Sharpe Ratio Correlation
MARB 2.90% -1.03 0.02 -0.26 0.15
S&P 500® Index 17.66% --- 1.00 0.59 1.00
Standard Deviation is a measure of price variability (risk). Alpha is an indication of how much an investment outperforms or underperforms on a risk-adjusted basis relative to its benchmark.Beta is a measure of price variability relative to the market. Sharpe Ratio is a measure of excess reward per unit of volatility. Correlation is a measure of the similarity of performance.

*Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results and current performance may be higher or lower than performance quoted. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate and shares when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

After Tax Held returns represent return after taxes on distributions. Assumes shares have not been sold. After Tax Sold returns represent the return after taxes on distributions and the sale of fund shares. Returns do not represent the returns you would receive if you traded shares at other times. Market Price returns are determined by using the midpoint of the national best bid offer price ("NBBO") as of the time that the fund's NAV is calculated. Returns are average annualized total returns, except those for periods of less than one year, which are cumulative.

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

**Performance information for each listed index is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent actual fund performance. Indexes do not charge management fees or brokerage expenses, and no such fees or expenses were deducted from the performance shown. Indexes are unmanaged and an investor cannot invest directly in an index.

Credit Suisse Merger Arbitrage Liquid Index - The Credit Suisse Merger Arbitrage Liquid Index aims to gain broad exposure to the merger arbitrage strategy using a pre-defined quantitative methodology to invest in a liquid, diversified and broadly representative set of announced merger deals.

S&P 500® Index - The Index is an unmanaged index of 500 companies used to measure large-cap U.S. stock market performance.

Footnotes
1 The NAV represents the fund's net assets (assets less liabilities) divided by the fund's outstanding shares.
2 Fund shares are purchased and sold on an exchange at their market price rather than net asset value (NAV), which may cause the shares to trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount).
3 The median bid-ask spread is calculated by identifying the national best bid and national best offer ("NBBO") for the fund as of the end of each 10 second interval during each trading day of the last 30 calendar days and dividing the difference between each such bid and offer by the midpoint of the NBBO. The median of those values is identified and that value is expressed as a percentage rounded to the nearest hundredth.
4 Most recent distribution paid or declared to today's date. Subject to change in the future. There is no guarantee that the fund will declare dividends.
5 The 30-day SEC yield is calculated by dividing the net investment income per share earned during the most recent 30-day period by the maximum offering price per share on the last day of the period and includes the effects of fee waivers and expense reimbursements, if applicable.
6 12-Month Distribution Rate is calculated by dividing the sum of the fund's trailing 12-month ordinary distributions paid or declared by the NAV price. Distribution rates may vary.
7 All market capitalization numbers are in USD$ Millions.
8 Inception Date is 2/4/2020

You should consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. You can download a prospectus or summary prospectus, or contact First Trust Portfolios L.P. at 1-800-621-1675 to request a prospectus or summary prospectus which contains this and other information about the fund. The prospectus or summary prospectus should be read carefully before investing.

Risk Considerations

You could lose money by investing in a fund. An investment in a fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed. There can be no assurance that a fund's objective(s) will be achieved. Investors buying or selling shares on the secondary market may incur customary brokerage commissions. Please refer to each fund's prospectus and Statement of Additional Information for additional details on a fund's risks. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Unlike mutual funds, shares of the fund may only be redeemed directly from a fund by authorized participants in very large creation/redemption units. If a fund's authorized participants are unable to proceed with creation/redemption orders and no other authorized participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, fund shares may trade at a premium or discount to a fund's net asset value and possibly face delisting and the bid/ask spread may widen.

A fund may be subject to the risk that a counterparty will not fulfill its obligations which may result in significant financial loss to a fund.

Current market conditions risk is the risk that a particular investment, or shares of the fund in general, may fall in value due to current market conditions. As a means to fight inflation, the Federal Reserve and certain foreign central banks have raised interest rates and expect to continue to do so, and the Federal Reserve has announced that it intends to reverse previously implemented quantitative easing. Recent and potential future bank failures could result in disruption to the broader banking industry or markets generally and reduce confidence in financial institutions and the economy as a whole, which may also heighten market volatility and reduce liquidity. Ongoing armed conflicts between Russia and Ukraine in Europe and among Israel, Hamas and other militant groups in the Middle East, have caused and could continue to cause significant market disruptions and volatility within the markets in Russia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. The hostilities and sanctions resulting from those hostilities have and could continue to have a significant impact on certain fund investments as well as fund performance and liquidity. The COVID-19 global pandemic, or any future public health crisis, and the ensuing policies enacted by governments and central banks have caused and may continue to cause significant volatility and uncertainty in global financial markets, negatively impacting global growth prospects.

A fund is susceptible to operational risks through breaches in cyber security. Such events could cause a fund to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures and/or financial loss.

Equity securities may decline significantly in price over short or extended periods of time, and such declines may occur in the equity market as a whole, or they may occur in only a particular country, company, industry or sector of the market.

A fund may be a constituent of one or more indices or models which could greatly affect a fund's trading activity, size and volatility.

Leverage may result in losses that exceed the amount originally invested and may accelerate the rates of losses. Leverage tends to magnify, sometimes significantly, the effect of any increase or decrease in a fund's exposure to an asset or class of assets and may cause the value of a fund's shares to be volatile and sensitive to market swings.

Certain fund investments may be subject to restrictions on resale, trade over-the-counter or in limited volume, or lack an active trading market. Illiquid securities may trade at a discount and may be subject to wide fluctuations in market value.

The portfolio managers of an actively managed portfolio will apply investment techniques and risk analyses that may not have the desired result.

Market risk is the risk that a particular security, or shares of a fund in general may fall in value. Securities are subject to market fluctuations caused by such factors as general economic conditions, political events, regulatory or market developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in securities prices. Shares of a fund could decline in value or underperform other investments as a result. In addition, local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, spread of infectious disease or other public health issues, recessions, natural disasters or other events could have significant negative impact on a fund.

A fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for fund shares due to a limited number of market makers. Decisions by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role or step away in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying values of a fund's portfolio securities and a fund's market price.

Investments in companies that are the subject of a publicly announced transaction carry the risk the transaction is renegotiated, takes longer to complete than originally planned and that the transaction is never completed. Any such event could cause a fund to incur a loss. The risk/reward payout of merger arbitrage strategies typically is asymmetric, with the losses in failed transactions often far exceeding the gains in successful transactions.

A fund that holds cash or invests in money market or short-term securities may be less likely to achieve its investment objective and could lose money.

A fund classified as "non-diversified" may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, a fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly concentrated in certain issuers.

Securities of non-U.S. issuers are subject to additional risks, including currency fluctuations, political risks, withholding, lack of liquidity, lack of adequate financial information, and exchange control restrictions impacting non-U.S. issuers.

A fund and a fund's advisor may seek to reduce various operational risks through controls and procedures, but it is not possible to completely protect against such risks. The fund also relies on third parties for a range of services, including custody, and any delay or failure related to those services may affect the fund's ability to meet its objective.

High portfolio turnover may result in higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders.

The market price of a fund's shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in the fund's net asset value ("NAV") as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on the exchange, and a fund's investment advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above their NAV.

Short selling creates special risks which could result in increased gains or losses and volatility of returns. Because losses on short sales arise from increases in the value of the security sold short, such losses are theoretically unlimited.

A fund with significant exposure to a single asset class, country, region, industry, or sector may be more affected by an adverse economic or political development than a broadly diversified fund.

Securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies may experience greater price volatility and be less liquid than larger, more established companies.

Special purpose acquisition companies ("SPACs"), have no operating history or ongoing business other than seeking acquisitions. The value of a SPAC's securities is particularly dependent on the ability of its management to identify and complete a profitable acquisition. There is no guarantee that the SPACs in which a fund may invest will complete an acquisition or that any acquisitions completed by the SPACs will be profitable.

Trading on an exchange may be halted due to market conditions or other reasons. There can be no assurance that a fund's requirements to maintain the exchange listing will continue to be met or be unchanged.

First Trust Advisors L.P. (FTA) is the adviser to the First Trust fund(s). FTA is an affiliate of First Trust Portfolios L.P., the distributor of the fund(s).

CUSIP identifiers have been provided by CUSIP Global Services, managed on behalf of the American Bankers Association by FactSet Research Systems Inc. and are not for use or dissemination in a manner that would serve as a substitute for any CUSIP service. The CUSIP Database, ©2024 CUSIP Global Services. "CUSIP" is a registered trademark of the American Bankers Association.

Not FDIC Insured • Not Bank Guaranteed • May Lose Value
 
The information presented is not intended to constitute an investment recommendation for, or advice to, any specific person. By providing this information, First Trust is not undertaking to give advice in any fiduciary capacity within the meaning of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code or any other regulatory framework. Financial professionals are responsible for evaluating investment risks independently and for exercising independent judgment in determining whether investments are appropriate for their clients.
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