CSD vs FPXE

CSDBInvesco S&P Spin-Off ETF

FPXECFirst Trust IPOX Europe Equity Opportunities ETF

In short

CSD Most funds in this corner of the market chase IPOs. CSD buys the other kind of new company: businesses cut loose from a bigger parent, held only for their first four years on their own, then rolled off.

FPXE Europe's IPO class in one ticker. FPXE tracks the IPOX 100 Europe Index: a rules-based basket of recent European listings and spin-offs, no deal-picking. It's the Europe-only seat in First Trust's new-listings lineup.

Stated mandate

CSD The fund seeks exposure to companies spun off from parent companies by tracking the S&P U.S. Spin-Off Index, investing at least 90% of assets in index securities or depositary receipts.

FPXE The Fund seeks investment results that generally track the price and yield of the IPOX® 100 Europe Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 90% of net assets in common stocks and depositary receipts in that Index.

Why people hold it

• CSD The mandate is narrow and literal: U.S. companies spun off from a parent within the last four years, each with at least $1 billion in float-adjusted market cap.spglobal.com
• Fresh spin-offs get picked up at the monthly rebalance and every name ages out after four years, so the basket keeps turning over instead of going stale.spglobal.comspglobal.com 2
• 0.65% a year (0.66% gross, net of a waiver through August 31, 2028), near the middle of its eight-fund category, where First Trust's FPX charges 0.57% with no waiver.
• Live since December 2006 and still running the same spin-off mandate, it sits among the stronger builds in its small peer group.

• FPXE The Europe-dedicated member of First Trust's new-listings family: FPX takes the US, FPXI goes international, FPXE keeps the map to Europe.ftportfolios.com
• Rules over hunches: it aims to track the IPOX 100 Europe Index and normally keeps at least 90% of net assets in that index's common stocks and depositary receipts.ftportfolios.com
• Roughly 100 names, so no single new listing carries the portfolio. That's a wide net for a theme that usually lives or dies on a handful of deals.
• Live since 2018, so there's a multi-year record to examine instead of a fresh-launch guess.

Worth knowing

• CSD About 30 holdings, so one company's news can move the whole fund. This is a concentrated slice, not a core holding.
• One of the lighter-traded funds in its category, which can mean wider gaps between what buyers bid and sellers ask.
• Income is an afterthought here: distributions land once or twice a year, and the index is built around corporate events, not yield.spglobal.com

• FPXE At 0.70% a year, it sits at the category median but above rivals such as FPX (0.57%), IPO (0.60%) and CSD (0.67%).
• A small asset base and light trading volume, so spreads tend to be wider than on headline ETFs and large orders can move the price.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, so this is a growth-shaped basket rather than a steady income line.

Full CSD profile⁠

Full FPXE profile⁠