First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund
$45.08−0.56 (−1.24%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.80%
- Fund size
- $226M
- 1Y return
- +6.7%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.23%
- Holdings
- 204
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $46.12
- 52W range
The ETF.net FEMS Grade
Score 36 of 100 sits in the D band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.FScore 3Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 33Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 75Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.BScore 67Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 66Category rank
Our read on FEMS
DEmerging market small caps, chosen by First Trust's AlphaDEX growth-and-value rules instead of ranked by size. A narrow, off-the-beaten-path slice of EM that has been running since 2012.
The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX® Emerging Markets Small CapTM Index.
Why people hold it
- Goes small in emerging markets: roughly 220 stocks, so no single name or state champion carries the fund.
- AlphaDEX picks and weights by growth and value rank, not market cap, so the biggest company in the index isn't automatically the biggest position.ftportfolios.com
- Live since 2012, with the same rules-based index mandate through multiple EM cycles. Pays quarterly.
- Holdings are spread widely enough that the portfolio reads as a genuine small-cap basket rather than a handful of bets.
Worth knowing
- Cost is the sore spot: 0.80% a year, well above EM factor peers such as EMGF (0.26%) and AVES (0.36%). That gap compounds against you.
- Thinly traded. Spreads can widen, and large orders can move the price more than in the big EM funds.
- Small caps plus emerging markets is a bumpy combination, and this has been among the more volatile funds in its peer group.
FEMS Holdings
- Stocks
- 204
- 14%
- 6213.TW
Sectors
- Technology16.3%
- Industrials16.0%
- Consumer Discr.14.0%
- Materials11.4%
- Energy8.4%
- Real Estate8.1%
- Cons. Staples6.5%
- Financials5.9%
- Utilities5.7%
- Communication3.9%
- Health Care3.8%
Geography
- Taiwan24.83%
- Turkey17.34%
- Brazil12.87%
- Thailand9.46%
- China8.76%
- Indonesia7.24%
- South Africa6.08%
- Mexico3.37%
- 10.03%
Developed 1% · Emerging 99%
FEMS Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | FEMS |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +10.2% |
| 1 month | −2.0% |
| 3 months | −2.4% |
| 1 year | +6.7% |
| 3 years | +9.7% |
| 5 years | +5.6% |
| 10 years | +7.6% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | FEMS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +10.2% | |
| 2025 | +16.5% | |
| 2024 | +1.9% | |
| 2023 | +3.5% | |
| 2022 | +1.9% | |
| 2021 | +3.7% | |
| 2020 | +7.8% |
FEMS in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FEMS yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FEMS Dividends
- 4.23%
- $1.93
- $0.45 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.45 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.30 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.65 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.53 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.52 |
| Mar 27, 2025 | Mar 31, 2025 | $0.09 |
| Dec 13, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | $0.45 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.34 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.54 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 28, 2024 | $0.17 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.37 |
| Sep 22, 2023 | Sep 29, 2023 | $0.65 |
FEMS Risk
- 13.1%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.50
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −21.8%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.61
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FEMS Cost
- The middle half of Emerging Markets Multifactor funds
- Median 0.47%
18 of the 20 Emerging Markets Multifactor funds charge less.