Investment objective & strategy
As of Dec. 29, 2025 · prospectusObjective. The First Trust Expanded Technology ETF (the "Fund" ) seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.
Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the common stocks of companies identified by the Funds investment advisor as either information technology companies or financial companies and communication services companies whose operations are principally derived from and/or dependent upon technology ( Expanded Technology Companies ). While the Fund is actively managed, the investment advisor intends to utilize a quantitative model to help identify Expanded Technology Companies with attractive long-term capital appreciation potential. The model begins with a large-cap focused universe of U.S. common stocks listed on U.S. exchanges. The model then includes only those companies that are classified by the Global Industry Classification Standard ( … Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in the common stocks of companies identified by the Funds investment advisor as either information technology companies or financial companies and communication services companies whose operations are principally derived from and/or dependent upon technology ( Expanded Technology Companies ). While the Fund is actively managed, the investment advisor intends to utilize a quantitative model to help identify Expanded Technology Companies with attractive long-term capital appreciation potential. The model begins with a large-cap focused universe of U.S. common stocks listed on U.S. exchanges. The model then includes only those companies that are classified by the Global Industry Classification Standard ( GICS ) as belonging to either the information technology sector, or certain technology-dependent industries within the financials and communication services sectors (see below). The investment advisor will review the relevant sectors and industries in conjunction with any changes to GICS classifications. To identify Expanded Technologies Companies, the model only includes companies from the following specific industries or sub-industries which the investment advisor has identified as containing companies whose operations are principally derived from and/or dependent upon technology: ? Information Technology includes companies from the following industries: IT services; software; communications equipment; technology hardware, storage and peripherals; electronic equipment, instruments and components; and semiconductors and semiconductor equipment. ? Financials - includes only companies from the transaction and payment processing services sub-industry. ? Communication Services includes only companies from the following industries: wireless telecommunication services; media; entertainment; and interactive media and services. See Additional Information on the Fund's Investment Objective and Strategies for additional information regarding the technology-dependent industries and sub-industries within the financials and communication services sectors identified above. From this universe, the investment advisor considers a range of quantitative attributes associated with the remaining securities. Such quantitative attributes include, but are not limited to, operating metrics and financial metrics, such as return on equity, momentum, and free cash flow growth. The investment advisor will select approximately 50 companies for the portfolio that are expected to be weighted between 0.25% and 4.50% at the time of purchase (with larger cap companies receiving higher weightings within the approximate range) and will be reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly. The Funds investment advisor may over-weight, under-weight, or exclude certain securities from the portfolio that would otherwise be selected pursuant to the quantitative process in certain instances. The Funds investments will be concentrated ( i.e. , invest more than 25% of Fund assets) in the industries or group of industries comprising the information technology sector. As of November 28, 2025, the Fund also had significant investments in communication services companies, although this may change from time to time. 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 Feb. 28, 2026 · N-PORT| Security | Ticker | Value | % of fund |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISCO SYSTEMS INC | — | $2.43M | 4.70% |
| META PLATFORMS INC CL A | — | $2.43M | 4.70% |
| NVIDIA CORP | — | $2.43M | 4.70% |
| ALPHABET INC CL A | — | $2.36M | 4.57% |
| VISA INC-CLASS A | — | $2.32M | 4.49% |
| APPLE INC | — | $2.30M | 4.45% |
| APPLIED MATERIALS INC | — | $2.29M | 4.44% |
| MASTERCARD INC CL A | — | $2.28M | 4.41% |
| LAM RESEARCH CORP | — | $2.27M | 4.40% |
| NETFLIX INC | — | $2.17M | 4.20% |
Portfolio moves
Nov 30, 2025 → Feb 28, 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. |
|---|---|---|
| State Street(R) SPDR(R) NYSE Technology ETF · XNTK | 57% | 0.35% |
| iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF · IGM | 51% | 0.39% |
| Wireless Fund · WIREX | 50% | 1.95% |
Advisers
| Firm | Role |
|---|---|
| First Trust Advisors L.P. | Adviser |
Footnotes
- Expense ratio as of December 29, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
- Net assets and holdings count as of February 28, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
- Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).
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