Investment objective & strategy
As of Jan. 28, 2026 · prospectusObjective. The First Trust RBA Deglobalization ETF (the Fund ) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Funds fees and expenses) of an index called the Richard Bernstein Advisors U.S. Deglobalization Index (the Index ).
Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is owned and was developed by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC (the Index Provider ). The Index Provider has retained the ICE Data Indices, LLC to calculate and maintain the Index. According to the Index Provider, the Index is designed to measure the performance of all cap U.S. companies that will benefit from accelerating deglobalization and its implications. Deglobalization is the process of decreasing interconnectedness and interdependence between countries, particularly in terms … Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is owned and was developed by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC (the Index Provider ). The Index Provider has retained the ICE Data Indices, LLC to calculate and maintain the Index. According to the Index Provider, the Index is designed to measure the performance of all cap U.S. companies that will benefit from accelerating deglobalization and its implications. Deglobalization is the process of decreasing interconnectedness and interdependence between countries, particularly in terms of economic and/or trade relations, which is typically marked by a decline in international trade and investment and a reduction in the dependence on global supply chains. The implications of deglobalization can be a prioritization of domestic production, imposing of tariffs on foreign goods, tightening immigration, and potential warfare, all of which have implications for economic growth, inflation, and labor markets. According to the Index Provider, the Index provides exposure to industrial, energy and materials companies focused on infrastructure, aerospace & defense, transportation and other services, which the Index Provider believes are inflation beneficiaries and may benefit from increased geopolitical conflict. Cybersecurity companies are also included as the Index Provider believes they are increasingly important in todays world. Since deglobalization has implications for inflation, specifically causing a persistent increase in inflation due to disruptions to the flows of labor, goods and commodities and the shifting of production to less-efficient economies, companies that are strategically positioned can benefit. These inflation beneficiaries and/or inflation-resilient companies thrive relative to other sectors/industries when inflation is higher than normal. Companies that own or control real assets (which get more valuable with inflation), have pricing power, deal with commodities (pricing directly correlated to inflation), or have strong operating leverage (revenue benefits more than costs in inflationary environments) are all inflation beneficiaries and can perform well during periods of deglobalization that bring on higher inflation. Additionally, national security becomes more important as trade and political relations are strained. This results in more demand for defense (both physical and cyber) which can spur increases in military budgets and defense contracts. Companies positioned in these industries can benefit disproportionately relative to those outside of the national security scope. According to the Index Provider, the Indexs initial universe consists of all equity securities in the Russell 3000 TM Index. From this list of eligible securities, a security must also meet exchange listing, minimum market capitalization, share price and liquidity requirements. A security must also source the majority of its revenue from within the U.S., have positive 12-month forward earnings estimates and be either: (i) in the Global Industry Classification Standard ( GICS ) Energy, Materials, or Industrials sector; and/or (ii) involved in cybersecurity and included in the NYSE FactSet Global Cyber Security Index TM . Industries that could be disadvantaged from deglobalization (such as Air Freight) or that have no relationship to deglobalization (such as Passenger Ground Transportation or Printing), as determined by the Index Provider, are omitted from consideration for the Index. According to the Index Provider, the remaining eligible securities are then assigned a proprietary Deglobalization Score that positively scores companies based on the following inputs: ? At least 75% of revenue coming from the U.S.; ? Positive 12-month forward earnings estimate; ? Net Debt to EBITDA less than the company's sub-industry average; and ? Exposure to the Aerospace & Defense industry. According to the Index Provider, securities are then selected using a mean-variance optimization process that maximizes the Deglobalization Score and assigns weights to securities based on their contribution to the Indexs overall portfolio risk. Because the underlying portfolio is theme-based and not company specific, the optimizer is designed to minimize stock-specific risk while adhering to the specified constraints of the Index theme. No constituent will exceed approximately 4% of the total index, with a minimum weight of at least 0.5%. When a stock within the optimization process hits the 4% maximum weight constraint, the process begins to assign additional weight to other securities in an order that maintains the optimization approach. The Index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Indexs quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Index may be adjusted by the Index Provider for intra-rebalance corporate actions occurring at the Index constituent level in order to mitigate or eliminate the effect of those events on the Indexs performance and maintain the continuity of the Index level and composition. The Index Provider may also adjust the Index between rebalances due to a constituent not being available for trading ( e.g., merger, acquisition, delisting or bankruptcy). The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. While the Index does not have a limit on the number of constituent securities, the selection process typically results in 60-150 constituent securities. As of December 31, 2025, the Index was composed of 108 securities. As of December 31, 2025, the Fund expects to have significant investments in industrials companies, although this may change from time to time. The Fund's investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of December 31, 2025. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector. The Fund is classified as non-diversified under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act" ).
Top holdings
As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION | — | $61.44K | 2.76% |
| UNION PACIFIC CORP | — | $56.53K | 2.54% |
| LEONARDO DRS INC | — | $56.10K | 2.52% |
| REPUBLIC SVCS | — | $53.22K | 2.39% |
| EOG RESOURCES INC | — | $51.18K | 2.30% |
| CONOCOPHILLIPS | — | $43.43K | 1.95% |
| CSX CORP | — | $42.77K | 1.92% |
| PACKAGING CORP OF AMERICA | — | $42.02K | 1.89% |
| ARMSTRONG WORLD INDUSTRIES INC | — | $41.20K | 1.85% |
| MAGNOLIA OIL and GAS CORPO CL A | — | $37.79K | 1.70% |
Portfolio moves
Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.
Similar funds
Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight| Fund | Overlap | Net exp. |
|---|---|---|
| Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Industrials ETF · RSPN | 22% | 0.40% |
| JNL/Mellon Industrials Sector Fund | 20% | 0.31% |
| VANGUARD INDUSTRIALS INDEX FUND · VINAX, VIS | 20% | 0.09% |
Footnotes
- Expense ratio as of January 28, 2026, from the fund's prospectus.
- Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
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