FYC vs SPYG

FYCCFirst Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund

SPYGAState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF

In short

FYC Small-cap growth, but not by market cap. The AlphaDEX screen ranks the Nasdaq US 700 Small Cap universe on growth and value factors, keeps the best scorers, tiers their weights by rank, and reshuffles quarterly. Rules-based stock picking, not index hugging.

SPYG The growth half of the S&P 500 for 0.04% a year, running since 2000. No exotic screen, no reinvention: just the index's fastest-growing names, in the cheapest wrapper tracking that index.

Stated mandate

FYC The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq AlphaDEX Small Cap Growth Index through an indexing approach.

SPYG The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the S&P 500 Growth Index. It provides exposure to S&P 500 companies selected for strong growth characteristics.

Why people hold it

• FYC Weight follows score, not size: selected names are split into quintiles, higher-scoring quintiles get the bigger share of the index, and stocks sit equal-weighted inside each quintile.sec.gov
• The screen blends both sides of the style aisle, ranking on growth factors (3-, 6- and 12-month price moves, sales-to-price, sales growth) and value factors (book-to-price, cash-flow-to-price, return on assets).sec.gov
• The index is reconstituted and rebalanced quarterly, so the roughly 300 small caps it holds get re-scored four times a year instead of riding a static list.sec.gov
• Live since 2011 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, meaning this methodology has been run through more than one small-cap boom and bust rather than back-tested through them.

• SPYG Costs 0.04% a year, well under the typical fee in the US growth-ETF group.
• The cheapest way to buy the S&P 500 Growth Index: VOOG follows the same benchmark at 0.07%.
• Has tracked its index tightly, one of the strongest implementations among growth funds we grade.
• Trading since 2000, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands actively, so spreads stay thin. Pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• FYC Cost is the headline trade-off: 0.70% a year, well above the typical fund in its growth peer group, where cap-weighted options like SPYG, SCHG and VUG run at or below 0.04%.
• The prospectus flags that the quarterly reconstitution schedule may produce a higher rate of portfolio turnover, with the trading costs and in-fund capital gains that can come with it.sec.gov
• Because weights ignore market cap, the fund can concentrate in an industry group when its index does, and it trades only moderately, so spreads deserve a look before you place an order.sec.gov

• SPYG About 150 stocks, not 500. You get the growth slice, which means heavier single-name and sector concentration than the full index.
• The index screens on growth and momentum, so rebalances lean into names that have already run and the ride is bumpier than the broad market.
• Large-cap US only. No small caps, no international, no bonds.

Full FYC profile⁠

Full SPYG profile⁠