Looking for broad exposure to the Financials - Broad segment of the equity market? You should consider the First Trust Financials AlphaDEX ETF (FXO), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 05/08/2007.

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. Financials - Broad 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 $2.24 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Financials - Broad segment of the equity market. FXO seeks to match the performance of the StrataQuant Financials Index before fees and expenses.

The StrataQuant Financials Index is a modified equal-dollar weighted index designed by the AMEX to objectively identify and select stocks from the Russell 1000 Index that may generate positive alpha relative to traditional passive style indices through the use of the AlphaDEX screening methodology.

Costs

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.61%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.86%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector--about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF) accounts for about 2% of total assets, followed by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) and White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. (WTM).

The top 10 holdings account for about 17.56% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the First Trust Financials AlphaDEX ETF return is roughly 5.75% so far, and it's up approximately 30.23% over the last 12 months (as of 01/31/2025). FXO has traded between $42.94 and $59 in this past 52-week period.