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First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Emerging Markets ETF (RFEM)
Investment Objective/Strategy - The First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Emerging Markets ETF is an actively managed exchange-traded fund. The Fund's investment objective is to provide capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in a portfolio of equity securities of emerging market companies, including through investments in common stock, depositary receipts and real estate investment trusts, and forward foreign currency exchange contracts.
There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objectives will be achieved.
Fund Overview
TickerRFEM
Fund TypeInternational Equity
Investment AdvisorFirst Trust Advisors L.P.
Investor Servicing AgentBank of New York Mellon Corp
Portfolio Manager/Sub-AdvisorRiverFront Investment Group, LLC
CUSIP33739P707
ISINUS33739P7078
Intraday NAVRFEMIV
Fiscal Year-End10/31
ExchangeNasdaq
Inception6/14/2016
Inception Price$49.61
Inception NAV$49.61
Expense Ratio*0.95%
* As of 3/1/2024
Current Fund Data (as of 3/15/2024)
Closing NAV1$60.74
Closing Market Price2$60.41
Bid/Ask Midpoint$60.48
Bid/Ask Discount0.44%
30-Day Median Bid/Ask Spread30.07%
Total Net Assets$36,444,886
Outstanding Shares600,002
Daily Volume489
Average 30-Day Daily Volume976
Closing Market Price 52-Week High/Low$62.21 / $51.60
Closing NAV 52-Week High/Low$62.31 / $51.81
Number of Holdings (excluding cash)124
Top Holdings (as of 3/15/2024)*
Holding Percent
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. 10.15%
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 3.38%
Tencent Holdings Limited 3.10%
MediaTek Inc. 2.29%
ICICI Bank Limited 1.86%
Alibaba Group Holding Limited 1.82%
Tata Consultancy Services Limited 1.62%
Kia Corporation 1.58%
Adani Power Limited 1.50%
International Container Terminal Services, Inc. 1.41%

* Excluding cash.  Holdings are subject to change.

Top Country Exposure (as of 3/15/2024)
Country Percent
Taiwan 24.62%
India 22.61%
South Korea 11.20%
Brazil 10.32%
China 9.71%
Chile 3.21%
Hong Kong 2.69%
Poland 2.16%
Malaysia 2.06%
South Africa 1.77%
NAV History (Since Inception)
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Distribution Information
Dividend per Share Amt (as of 3/19/2024)4$0.6271
30-Day SEC Yield (as of 2/29/2024)54.24%
12-Month Distribution Rate (as of 2/29/2024)63.20%
Fund Characteristics (as of 2/29/2024)7
Maximum Market Cap.$565,290
Median Market Cap.$7,225
Minimum Market Cap.$828
Price/Earnings9.30
Price/Book1.60
Price/Cash Flow6.95
Price/Sales1.18
Bid/Ask Premium/Discount (as of 3/15/2024)
  2023 Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 2024
Days Traded at Premium 71 10 --- ---
Days Traded at Discount 179 42 --- ---
Top Sector Exposure (as of 3/15/2024)
Information Technology 29.62%
Financials 17.79%
Industrials 9.65%
Consumer Discretionary 9.58%
Materials 8.56%
Energy 6.03%
Consumer Staples 5.05%
Communication Services 4.75%
Health Care 3.91%
Utilities 3.64%
Real Estate 1.42%
Hypothetical Growth of $10,000 Since Inception (as of 3/15/2024) *


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) 7.85% 2.02% 18.97% -1.45% 3.57% N/A 6.31%
After Tax Held 7.39% 2.02% 17.32% -3.34% 1.93% N/A 4.78%
After Tax Sold 4.64% 1.20% 11.15% -1.97% 1.99% N/A 4.25%
Market Price 7.61% 1.79% 19.09% -1.72% 3.44% N/A 6.21%
Index Performance **
MSCI Emerging Markets Index 3.80% -0.11% 8.73% -6.30% 1.89% N/A 5.68%
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) 12.03% 20.79% 20.79% -0.51% 5.12% N/A 6.16%
After Tax Held 11.55% 19.10% 19.10% -2.43% 3.46% N/A 4.61%
After Tax Sold 7.12% 12.24% 12.24% -1.26% 3.19% N/A 4.12%
Market Price 12.14% 20.78% 20.78% -0.40% 5.13% N/A 6.09%
Index Performance **
MSCI Emerging Markets Index 7.86% 9.83% 9.83% -5.08% 3.69% N/A 5.82%
3-Year Statistics (as of 2/29/2024)
  Standard Deviation Alpha Beta Sharpe Ratio Correlation
RFEM 18.17% 4.69 0.94 -0.12 0.91
MSCI Emerging Markets Index 17.67% --- 1.00 -0.42 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.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index - The Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure equity market performance in the global emerging markets.

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 6/14/2016

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.

Some Asian economies are highly dependent on trade with other countries and there is a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of Asian issuers as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Certain Asian countries experience expropriation and nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, currency manipulation, political instability, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic, socio-economic and/or political unrest. In particular, escalated tensions involving North Korea could have severe adverse effect on Asian economies. Recent developments between the U.S. and China have heightened concerns of increased tariffs and restrictions on trade.

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 that effects all or a portion of its creations and redemptions for cash rather than in-kind may be less tax-efficient.

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.

Changes in currency exchange rates and the relative value of non-US currencies may affect the value of a fund's investments and the value of a fund's shares.

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.

Depositary receipts may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market and distributions may be subject to a fee. Holders may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact their value.

The use of derivatives instruments involves different and possibly greater risks than investing directly in securities including counterparty risk, valuation risk, volatility risk, and liquidity risk. Further, losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate may be magnified by certain features of the derivatives.

A fund's utilization of a dynamic currency hedging strategy may result in lower returns than an equivalent non-currency hedged investment when the component currencies are rising relative to the U.S. dollar. Although a fund will seek to minimize the impact of currency fluctuations on returns, the use of currency hedging will not necessarily eliminate exposure to all currency fluctuations.

Investments in emerging market securities are generally considered speculative and involve additional risks relating to political, economic and regulatory conditions.

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.

The market for forward contracts is substantially unregulated and can experience lengthy periods of illiquidity, unusually high trading volume and other negative impacts, such as political intervention. Forward contracts can increase a fund's risk exposure to underlying references and their attendant risks, such as credit risk, currency risk, market risk, and interest rate risk, while also exposing a fund to counterparty risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk, among others.

Forward foreign currency exchange contracts involve certain risks, including the risk of failure of the counterparty to perform its obligations under the contract and the risk that the use of forward contracts may not serve as a complete hedge because of an imperfect correlation between movements in the prices of the contracts and the prices of the currencies hedged.

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.

Indian companies are subject to certain risks, including greater price volatility, substantially less liquidity and significantly smaller market capitalization of securities markets, more substantial governmental involvement in the economy, higher rates of inflation, and greater political, economic and social uncertainty. Government controls have been reduced on imports and foreign investment, and privatization of domestic output has proceeded slowly. Rapid economic growth has put heavy stress on India's infrastructural facilities. Furthermore, businesses still have to deal with an inefficient and sometimes slow-moving bureaucracy.

As inflation increases, the present value of a fund's assets and distributions may decline.

Information technology companies are subject to certain risks, including rapidly changing technologies, short product life cycles, fierce competition, aggressive pricing and reduced profit margins, loss of patent, copyright and trademark protections, cyclical market patterns, evolving industry standards and regulation and frequent new product introductions.

Large capitalization companies may grow at a slower rate than the overall market.

The economies of Latin American countries have in the past experienced considerable difficulties, including high inflation rates, high interest rates, high unemployment, government overspending and political instability. International economic conditions, particularly those in the United States, Europe and Asia, as well as world prices for oil and other commodities may also influence the development of Latin American economies. Many Latin American countries are highly reliant on the exportation of commodities and their economies may be significantly impacted by fluctuations in commodity prices and the global demand for certain commodities.

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.

The utilization of quantitative models entails the risks that a model may be limited or incorrect, the data on which a model relies may be incorrect or incomplete and the portfolio managers may not be successful in selecting companies for investment or determining the weighting of particular stocks in a fund's portfolio. Any of these factors could cause a fund to underperform funds that do not rely on models.

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.

Because OTC derivatives do not trade on an exchange, the parties to an OTC derivative face heightened levels of counterparty risk, liquidity risk and valuation risk.

Preferred securities combine some of the characteristics of both common stocks and bonds. Preferred stocks are typically subordinated to other debt instruments in terms of priority to corporate income, and therefore will be subject to greater credit risk than those debt instruments.

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.

Real Estate Investment Trusts ("REITs") are subject to the risks of investing in real estate, including, but not limited to, changes in the real estate market, vacancy rates and competition, volatile interest rates and economic recession. Increases in interest rates typically lower the present value of a REIT's future earnings stream and may make financing property purchases and improvements more costly. The value of a fund will generally decline when investors in REIT stocks anticipate or experience rising interest rates.

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.

Taiwan is an emerging market and demonstrates significantly higher volatility from time to time. Taiwan's ongoing tensions with China may materially affect the Taiwanese economy. Also, the Taiwanese economy is export-oriented and dependent upon an open-world trade regime.

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.

A fund may hold securities or other assets that may be valued on the basis of factors other than market quotations. This may occur because the asset or security does not trade on a centralized exchange, or in times of market turmoil or reduced liquidity. Portfolio holdings that are valued using techniques other than market quotations, including "fair valued" assets or securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their valuations from one day to the next than if market quotations were used. There is no assurance that a fund could sell or close out a portfolio position for the value established for it at any time.

In China, direct ownership of companies in certain sectors by foreign individuals and entities is prohibited. In order to allow for foreign investment in these businesses, many Chinese companies have created variable interest entities ("VIEs") structures to enable indirect foreign ownership. VIEs are not formally recognized under Chinese law. Intervention by the Chinese government with respect to VIEs could significantly affect the Chinese company's performance and the enforceability of the VIE's contractual arrangements that establish the links between the Chinese company and the shell company in which the Fund invests. VIEs are also subject to the investment risks associated with the underlying Chinese issuer or operating company. Chinese companies are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements or accounting standards and oversight as companies in more developed countries. As a result, information about the Chinese securities and VIEs in which the Fund invests may be less reliable and incomplete.

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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