What this ETF is trying to do

The FIRST TRUST EXPANDED TECHNOLOGY ETF (XPND) is an exchange-traded fund that focuses on technology companies. It holds a variety of stocks from the tech sector.

What the numbers show

The current price of one share of XPND is $41.08. An estimated price from roughly one year ago was $36.44.

To see how the share price has moved, we look at "price return." This only tracks the change in the cost of a single share. To see the "total return," we look at both the share price change and any cash payments (distributions) made to investors.

Here is what the data shows:

• Year-to-Date (YTD): The price return is approximately 13.78%, while the total return is approximately 13.85%.

• One-Year: The price return is approximately 12.75%, and the total return is approximately 12.85%.

• Three-Year: The price return is approximately 100.69%, and the total return is approximately 101.30%.

• Five-Year: The supplied total return is approximately 103.02%.

For example, if you had invested $10,000 in the share price alone roughly one year ago, your investment would have grown based on the one-year price return of 12.75%.

Income and distribution explanation

Some investors look for ETFs that pay them cash regularly. This is called a "distribution yield." For XPND, the distribution yield is very low at approximately 0.08%. These payments are usually made quarterly. While some people seek high yields for income, it is important to remember that a high yield does not guarantee you will make money overall.

NAV erosion explanation

"NAV erosion" refers to a decline in the actual value of the assets held inside the ETF. If an ETF has a high erosion risk, it means the value of its holdings might be shrinking.

For this ETF, the erosion-risk score is 100, and the label says "No price erosion detected." The severity is listed as "good," and there is no severe erosion-risk flag. This means the fund has not shown signs of significant price deterioration in its underlying value.

Pros

• Strong Growth: The ETF has shown positive price returns and total returns over one, three, and five years.

• Low Erosion Risk: There are no signs of price erosion detected.

• Major Tech Exposure: The fund includes many well-known companies.

Top Holdings (Partial List):

• Apple Inc: 4.77%

• NVIDIA Corp: 4.61%

• Alphabet Inc Class A: 4.60%

• Applied Materials Inc: 4.59%

• Lam Research Corp: 4.59%

• Palantir Technologies Inc: 4.42%

• Broadcom Inc: 4.38%

• Microsoft Corp: 4.37%

• Palo Alto Networks Inc: 4.36%

• Cisco Systems Inc: 4.29%

*(Note: This is a partial list of the largest holdings and can change over time.)*

Cons

• Low Income: The distribution yield is very low, meaning it provides very little cash income to investors.

• Partial Data: The list provided above only shows the largest companies, not every company in the fund.

Beginner takeaway

XPND is a technology-focused ETF that has seen significant growth in its share price over several years. While it has performed well in terms of price increases, it does not provide much cash income through distributions. It also currently shows no signs of NAV erosion.