Looking for broad exposure to the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the equity market? You should consider the First Trust NASDAQ Semiconductor ETF (FTXL), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on September 20, 2016.
Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Additionally, sector ETFs offer convenient ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Technology - Semiconductors is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 2, placing it in top 13%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by First Trust Advisors. It has amassed assets over $2.19 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Technology - Semiconductors segment of the equity market. FTXL seeks to match the performance of the Nasdaq US Smart Semiconductor Index before fees and expenses.
The Nasdaq US Smart Semiconductor Index is a modified factor weighted index, designed to provide exposure to US companies within the semiconductor industry.
Costs
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.6%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.15%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, 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 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Intel Corporation (INTC) accounts for about 8.89% of total assets, followed by Nvidia Corporation (NVDA) and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO).The top 10 holdings account for about 60.46% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 77.34% so far this year and was up about 169.1% in the last one year (as of 05/19/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $81.51 and $248.97.
The ETF has a beta of 1.69 and standard deviation of 35.66% for the trailing three-year period. With about 35 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.
Alternatives
First Trust NASDAQ Semiconductor ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, FTXL is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Technology ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) tracks PHLX SOX Semiconductor Sector Index and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) tracks MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index. iShares Semiconductor ETF has $32.51 billion in assets, VanEck Semiconductor ETF has $60.42 billion. SOXX has an expense ratio of 0.34%, and SMH charges 0.35%.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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First Trust NASDAQ Semiconductor ETF (FTXL): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).