Is First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF (FTC) a strong ETF right now?

The First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF (FTC - Free Report) was launched on 05/08/2007, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.

What are smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.

Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.

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.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund sponsor and index

Because the fund has amassed over $1.27 billion, this makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. FTC is managed by First Trust Advisors. FTC, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Large Cap Growth Index.

The NASDAQ AlphaDEX Large Cap Growth Index is an enhanced index which employs the AlphaDEX stock selection methodology to select stocks from the NASDAQ US 500 Large Cap Growth Index.

Cost and other expenses

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.58% for this ETF, which makes it one of the more expensive products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.20%.

Sector exposure and top holdings

Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.

Representing 26.3% of the portfolio the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Industrials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Coherent Corp. (COHR) accounts for about 1.21% of the fund's total assets, followed by Alphabet Inc. (class A) (GOOGL) and Vertiv Holdings Co (class A) (VRT).

FTC's top 10 holdings account for about 10.95% of its total assets under management.

Performance and risk

The ETF return is roughly 1.29% so far this year and is up roughly 16.96% in the last one year (as of 01/05/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $116.97 and $164.79

The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 17.66% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 188 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

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 $201.09 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $404.64 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