What this ETF is trying to do

The First Trust NASDAQ Food & Beverage ETF (FTXG) is designed to invest in companies within the food and beverage industry. It provides investors with a way to own a basket of companies that produce the food and drinks people consume daily.

What the numbers show

As of October 9, 2026, the share price of FTXG was $21.51. To understand how the fund has performed, we look at two different types of returns: price return (the change in share price) and total return (which includes both price changes and cash distributions).

• Year-to-Date (YTD): The price return is 2.69%, while the total return is 4.35%.

• One Year: The price return is 0.90%, and the total return is 3.45%.

• Three Year: The price return is -4.50%, but the total return is 3.27%.

An estimated price from roughly one year ago was $21.32. This means that over the last year, the share price has increased slightly.

Income and distribution explanation

FTXG pays out cash to investors, usually on a quarterly basis. Over the last 12 months, it made 4 payments. The distribution yield is 2.54%.

It is important for beginners to remember that a distribution yield is not the same as a total return. While the yield shows the cash paid out relative to the price, the total return shows the actual overall performance. In this case, the total returns for the one-year and three-year periods are higher than the price returns because the cash distributions added value.

NAV erosion explanation

NAV erosion happens when the actual value of the assets inside a fund drops over time. The supplied data is sufficient to evaluate price erosion, but it does not include enough historical NAV-per-share data to confirm or rule out NAV erosion.

However, the fund has an erosion-risk score of 94, which is labeled as "Stable / sideways" with "good" severity. There is no severe erosion-risk flag for this ETF.

Top Holdings

The fund holds 31 different companies. As of October 12, 2026, the top holdings include:

• Coca-Cola Co: 8.69%

• Mondelez International Inc: 8.59%

• PepsiCo Inc: 7.92%

• The Kraft Heinz Co: 7.69%

• Archer-Daniels-Midland Co: 6.75%

Pros

• Stability: The erosion-risk score suggests the price has been stable or moving sideways.

• Positive Total Returns: Despite a negative three-year price return, the total return for that period remained positive.

Cons

• Slow Price Growth: The share price has seen very little growth over the last year.

• Long-term Price Decline: The price return over three years was negative.

Beginner takeaway

FTXG offers exposure to well-known food and drink companies. While the share price itself has struggled over a three-year period, the cash distributions have helped keep the total return positive. This shows why income investors care about principal stability; they want to earn distributions without seeing their original investment value disappear.