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First Trust Growth Strength™ Portfolio
Investment Objective/Strategy - The First Trust Growth Strength™ Portfolio (the "Fund") seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the common stocks and real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) that comprise The Growth Strength™ Index (the “Index”).
There can be no assurance that the Fund's investment objectives will be achieved.
INDEX CONSTRUCTION PROCESS:

UNIVERSE - The index's initial selection universe is composed of all the securities comprising the Nasdaq US BenchmarkTM Index, which includes common stocks and real estate investment trusts ("REITs"). The largest 500 companies by float-adjusted market capitalization with a minimum three-month average daily dollar trading volume ("ADTV") of $5 million are selected. Multiple share classes of the same issuer are excluded.

ELIGIBILITY - To be included in the index, a security's issuer must have at least $1 billion in cash and short-term investments; a long-term debt-to-market capitalization ratio of less than 30%; and a return on equity of greater than 15%.

SECURITY SELECTION & WEIGHTING - The remaining securities are then ranked by their three-year revenue percentage growth and three-year cash flow percentage growth. Those rankings are then combined equally and the top 50 securities are selected. If there are more than 15 securities from any one industry, as determined by the Industry Classification Benchmark classification system, the security with the lowest ranking will be removed and replaced with the next eligible securities (e.g., 51st ranked by growth) from a different industry. This process is repeated until no industry has more than 15 securities. Once finalized, each security is equally weighted.

REBALANCING - The index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly.

Fund Overview
Fiscal Year-End12/31
Inception Date5/16/2023
Inception NAV$10.00
Total Expense Ratio
(5/1/2024)
4.46%
Net Expense Ratio1.20%
Expenses are capped contractually at 1.20% per year, at least through May 12, 2025.
Current Fund Data (as of 11/19/2024)
Net Asset Value1$14.91
Dividend FrequencySemi-Annual
NAV 52-Week High/Low$15.16 / $11.85
Top Holdings (as of 10/31/2024)2
Percent
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. 2.17%
ConocoPhillips 2.10%
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. 2.07%
United Therapeutics Corporation 2.06%
Visa Inc. (Class A) 2.02%
Intuit Inc. 2.02%
Deckers Outdoor Corporation 2.02%
Amphenol Corporation 2.02%
Netflix, Inc. 2.01%
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. 2.01%
NAV History (Since Inception)
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Sector Breakdown (as of 10/31/2024)2
  Percent
Industrials 21.94%
Technology 20.18%
Consumer Discretionary 17.97%
Financials 15.72%
Energy 10.09%
Health Care 6.10%
Consumer Staples 4.03%
Telecommunications 3.97%
Month End Performance (as of 10/31/2024)
  3 Month YTD 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Since
Fund
Inception3
Fund Performance *
Fund Performance 0.21% 12.96% 32.80% N/A N/A N/A 28.17%
Index Performance **
S&P 500® Index 3.66% 20.97% 38.02% N/A N/A N/A 27.04%
Quarter End Performance (as of 9/30/2024)
  3 Month YTD 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Since
Fund
Inception3
Fund Performance *
Fund Performance 2.41% 14.54% 29.86% N/A N/A N/A 31.48%
Index Performance **
S&P 500® Index 5.89% 22.08% 36.35% N/A N/A N/A 29.79%

*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. Returns are average annualized total returns, except those for periods of less than one year, which are cumulative.

Fund expenses and return figures do not reflect the deduction of sales charges or other expenses associated with variable products. If such fees were included, expenses would be higher and the performance would be lower. The Fund's performance reflects fee waivers and expense reimbursements, absent which performance would have been lower.

**Indexes are unmanaged and an investor cannot invest directly in an index. Any Benchmarks or Indexes shown reflect no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes.

S&P 500® Index - The Index is an unmanaged index of 500 companies used to measure large-cap U.S. stock market performance.

Footnotes
1 The NAV represents the fund's net assets (assets less liabilities) divided by the fund's outstanding shares.
2 Market value information used in calculating the percentages is based upon trade date plus one recording of transactions, which can differ from regulatory financial reports (Forms N-CSR and N-PORT Part F) that are based on trade date recording of security transactions. Holdings are subject to change.
3 Inception Date is 5/16/2023

You should consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before investing. You can download a prospectus or contact First Trust Portfolios, L.P. at 1-800-621-1675 to request a prospectus, which contains this and other information about the fund. Read it carefully before you invest.

Risk Considerations

Please refer to the fund's prospectus and Statement of Additional Information for additional details on the fund's risks. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

The fund offers its shares only to separate accounts of insurance companies that offer variable annuity and variable life insurance products.

The fund's shares will change in value and you could lose money by investing in the fund. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. There can be no assurance that the fund's investment objective will be achieved.

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; however, the Federal Reserve has recently lowered interest rates and may continue to do so. 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.

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.

Stocks with growth characteristics tend to be more volatile than certain other stocks and their prices may fluctuate more dramatically than the overall stock market.

An index fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the index is so concentrated. A fund with significant exposure to a single asset class, or the securities of issuers within the same country, state, region, industry, or sector may have its value more affected by an adverse economic, business or political development than a broadly diversified fund.

There is no assurance that the index provider or its agents will compile or maintain the index accurately. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by a fund and its shareholders.

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.

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.

Large inflows and outflows may impact a new fund's market exposure for limited periods of time.

An index fund's return may not match the return of the index for a number of reasons including operating expenses, costs of buying and selling securities to reflect changes in the index, and the fact that a fund's portfolio holdings may not exactly replicate the index.

A fund classified as "non-diversified" may invest a relatively high percentage of its assets in a limited number of issuers. As a result, a fund may be more susceptible to a single adverse economic or regulatory occurrence affecting one or more of these issuers, experience increased volatility and be highly concentrated in certain 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.

A fund that invests in securities included in or representative of an index will hold those securities regardless of investment merit and the fund generally will not take defensive positions in declining markets.

High portfolio turnover may result in higher levels of transaction costs and may generate greater tax liabilities for shareholders.

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.

Nasdaq® and The Growth StrengthTM Index are registered trademarks and service marks of Nasdaq, Inc. (together with its affiliates hereinafter referred to as the "Corporations") and are licensed for use by First Trust. The Fund has not been passed on by the Corporations as to its legality or suitability. The Fund is not issued, endorsed, sold or promoted by the Corporations. THE CORPORATIONS MAKE NO WARRANTIES AND BEAR NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE FUND.

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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