First Trust Capital Strength ETF
$95.67−0.45 (−0.47%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.53%
- Fund size
- $7.6B
- 1Y return
- +5.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 1.11%
- Holdings
- 50
- Volume · 30D
- 0.5M sh
- NAV per share
- $96.44
- 52W range
The ETF.net FTCS Grade
Score 51 of 100 sits in the C 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 23Category 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.CScore 53Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 96Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 49Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 82Category rank
Our read on FTCS
CA 2006-vintage take on quality investing: the Capital Strength Index screens US companies for profitability and calm price action, then keeps about 50. Concentrated by design, and priced accordingly.
FTCS seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield of The Capital StrengthTM Index. The fund states that achieving its investment objective is not guaranteed.
Why people hold it
- Runs a real screen, not a market-cap list. Quality, profitability and low-volatility filters cut the field to about 50 US names, so each holding actually carries weight.ftportfolios.com
- Trading since 2006, so the strategy has been live through the financial crisis, 2020 and 2022. A long operating history, not a backtest with a ticker attached.
- A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, which generally means tight spreads on retail-sized orders. Distributions come quarterly.
Worth knowing
- 0.53% a year is roughly double the median for US factor ETFs. Cohort neighbors like MGV (0.05%) and SIZE (0.15%) run the factor playbook for a fraction of that.
- About 50 holdings means one company's bad quarter lands harder here than in a broad index fund.
- The index is rules-based, so the portfolio tilts toward whichever sectors currently clear the quality and volatility screens rather than to a fixed sector mix.ftportfolios.com
FTCS Holdings
- Stocks
- 50
- 22%
- MRK
Sectors
- Financials27.4%
- Industrials20.1%
- Cons. Staples15.3%
- Health Care15.1%
- Technology8.3%
- Consumer Discr.7.9%
- Energy4.2%
- Materials1.8%
Geography
- United States94.04%
- Switzerland4.16%
- United Kingdom1.80%
FTCS Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
FTCS$10,518
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 | FTCS |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +4.5% |
| 1 month | −5.3% |
| 3 months | +3.9% |
| 1 year | +5.2% |
| 3 years | +10.1% |
| 5 years | +5.9% |
| 10 years | +10.4% |
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 | FTCS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +4.5% | |
| 2025 | +6.5% | |
| 2024 | +11.2% | |
| 2023 | +8.5% | |
| 2022 | −10.2% | |
| 2021 | +26.7% | |
| 2020 | +13.0% |
FTCS in the news
FTCS Dividends
- 1.11%
- $1.06
- $0.26 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.26 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.29 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.26 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.25 |
| Jun 26, 2025 | Jun 30, 2025 | $0.23 |
| Mar 27, 2025 | Mar 31, 2025 | $0.22 |
| Dec 13, 2024 | Dec 31, 2024 | $0.40 |
| Sep 26, 2024 | Sep 30, 2024 | $0.26 |
| Jun 27, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.28 |
| Mar 21, 2024 | Mar 28, 2024 | $0.22 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.43 |
| Sep 22, 2023 | Sep 29, 2023 | $0.22 |
FTCS Risk
- 10.6%
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.
- 0.62
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.
- −20.9%
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.
- 0.53
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FTCS Cost
0.53%
FTCS0.53%
- The middle half of US Multifactor funds
- Median 0.30%
74 of the 98 US Multifactor funds charge less.