Making its debut on 05/08/2007, smart beta exchange traded fund First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF (FTC) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by First Trust Advisors. FTC has been able to amass assets over $1.3 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Growth. 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 & Other Expenses
For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.58% for FTC, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.15%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 31% of the portfolio. Industrials and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) accounts for about 2.05% of the fund's total assets, followed by Sandisk Corporation (SNDK) and Dell Technologies Inc. (class C) (DELL).
The top 10 holdings account for about 15.15% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 10.29% so far this year and is up roughly 15.41% in the last one year (as of 07/20/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $148.93 and $194.14
The fund has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 19.12% for the trailing three-year period, which makes FTC a medium risk choice in this particular 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 Index Fund ETF Shares (VUG) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Growth Index and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) tracks NASDAQ-100 Index. Vanguard Growth Index Fund ETF Shares has $220.64 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $465.53 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.03% and QQQ changes 0.18%.
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
Bottom Line
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First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX ETF (FTC): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).