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ANALYTICS
AnalysisScreenerGroups

Selection

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HISF

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Benchmark

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Peer Universe

Reference set for percentile ranks and factor bars

Fixed Income Funds · 2,838 total

ANALYTICS
AnalysisScreenerGroups

HISF

Material Change

First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF

Expense Ratio
0.83%
AUM
$97M
Inception
8/18/2014
1Y Return
-1.5%50th %ilevs 2,838 asset-class peers
·

The fund invests in a portfolio of U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds designed to follow the High Income Model, which blends fixed income assets for high income and total return. It holds a diversified mix of asset classes, including U.S. government securities, investment-grade and non-investment-grade corporate bonds, senior loans, and securitized debt, while maintaining specific exposure limits across various categories. The actively-managed approach allows for frequent trading and ongoing adjustments to portfolio risk based on macroeconomic factors and market conditions.

Time Series
–

Performance

NameCumulative ReturnAnn. ReturnAnn. VolSharpeMax DD
HISF
First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF
-1.5%-1.5%3.6%-1.48-4.1%
ⓘ Methodology

ETF performance based on market prices. Drag on chart to select period. Sharpe Ratio uses the one-month T-bill as the risk-free rate. From 10/7/2025 to 10/7/2026.

Trailing Returns

Name
YTD1D5D1M3M6M1Y2Y3Y5YMAX
HISF
First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF
-2.8%-0.2%0.1%-2.8%-3.0%-2.2%-1.5%1.9%5.0%1.2%1.4%
ⓘ Methodology

ETF performance based on market prices. Returns for periods greater than one year are annualized. As of 10/7/2026.

Annual Returns

Name
201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025YTD
HISF
First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF
0.9%*-11.0%1.2%6.2%-5.0%15.8%-2.8%10.2%-9.5%6.4%2.2%8.4%-2.8%
ⓘ Methodology

* partial year — the series ran for only part of it (its first year, or the year it closed); the figure is the return over the part it did run. ETF performance based on market prices. As of 10/7/2026.

Correlation Matrix

Benchmark

Select a second series, or to correlate with the seven research factors.

Factor Regression

Name
Ann. αβ MKTβ SMBβ HMLβ RMWβ CMAβ UMDβ iHMLR²Obs
HISFUS
First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF
-2.9%0.15**0.06*-0.07**0.020.09**-0.01-0.04**0.42226
ⓘ Methodology

ETF performance based on market prices. US factor set. Daily OLS of excess return (fund − T-bill) on factor spread returns over the selected date range, intersected with each series' history. Bold with * |t| ≥ 1.96, ** |t| ≥ 2.58. Cell shading tracks each loading's t-stat. Betas are returns-based — compare with the holdings-based factor scores below. Factor returns are long-short spread returns (© Ken French, Dartmouth). From 10/7/2025 to 8/31/2026.

SnapshotAs ofvsⓘ

Fund ProfileMaterial Change

Fund Documents(opens the fund company’s site in a new tab)
Family
Registrant
Type
ETF
Asset Class
Fixed Income
Region
Peer Group Benchmark
Prospectus Benchmark
Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index
Peer Group
Fixed Income - Core (657 peers)
1Y Peer Percentile
62
3Y Peer Percentile
55
Expense Ratio
0.83%
5Y Tax Drag
1.77%/yr
AUM
$97M
3Y Flow
+229.8%
Yield
5.31%
Inception
8/18/2014
Holdings (Reported)
4,752
Turnover
32%
Equity
2%
Derivatives
0%
Strategy Summary

The fund invests in a portfolio of U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds designed to follow the High Income Model, which blends fixed income assets for high income and total return. It holds a diversified mix of asset classes, including U.S. government securities, investment-grade and non-investment-grade corporate bonds, senior loans, and securitized debt, while maintaining specific exposure limits across various categories. The actively-managed approach allows for frequent trading and ongoing adjustments to portfolio risk based on macroeconomic factors and market conditions.

ⓘ Methodology

Expense ratio and its components from the fund's prospectus fee table; tax drag from its after-tax return table. Turnover from the SEC annual report (1/9/2026). Yield as of 10/6/2026, AUM 9/30/2026. Holdings, asset class, style, peer group and exposures as of 7/31/2026. Strategy summary from the fund's prospectus.

Factor DetailsRef: Fixed Income Funds

None of the selected metrics are scored for HISF — switch the picker to All, or add metrics under Metrics (top right).

ⓘ Methodology

Hover or click for factor definitions. Weighted average of underlying company-level values with weights equal to position size. Solid blue dots mark the fund's position within the clean equity fund universe (5th–95th percentile scale); the shaded band spans the fund's broad class (Fixed Income Funds) 25th–75th percentile, notched at the median. Holdings as of 7/31/2026. Stock-level data as of 8/31/2026. Expense ratio, yield, and turnover as of 10/6/2026. AUM as of 9/30/2026.

Asset Class Exposure

Fixed Income98.5%
Cash & Short-Term1.2%
Other0.3%
ⓘ Methodology

Shares of the fund's long book, from the asset category each position is filed under. Holdings that are themselves funds are looked through one level to their own mix (100% of the book). Other is everything we could not name as an asset class: holdings the filing itself labels as other, derivative positions at the market value the filing reports rather than at notional, and funds held inside this fund whose own holdings we could not read.

Country Exposure

Level
88.5%
86.3%
Other2.2%
6.5%
2.4%
1.0%
Other3.1%
Emerging Markets5.0%
ⓘ Methodology

Shares are percentages of the holdings that carry a country, not portfolio weights. Based on N-PORT domicile; ADRs list under their exchange. Holdings as of 7/31/2026. Stock-level data as of 8/31/2026.

Holdings

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12 positions (top 10 shown, create for full holdings) · 100% in funds

#NameTickerWeight %Country
1First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVFTCB
27.82
USA
2First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVHYLS
10.08
USA
3First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVLMBS
10.07
USA
4First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVFIIG
9.94
USA
5First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIIIFIXD
9.92
USA
6First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVLGOV
6.87
USA
7First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IIIFEMB
5.11
USA
8First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVFTSL
5.08
USA
9First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IVFSIG
5.04
USA
10First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IIIFPE
5.02
USA
ⓘ Methodology

Sector, country and factor detail need a security match; the share of weight that matched is a member figure, so the rows without one appear here with those columns blank. "In funds" adds up the rows tagged Fund — holdings that are themselves funds this app covers, which is what look-through can expand; a held vehicle that files no holdings of its own (a commodity or currency trust, a money-market fund) is not counted and stays a single line. Holdings as of 7/31/2026. Stock-level data as of 8/31/2026.

ConcentrationRef: Fixed Income Funds

Total Holdings4,752
Effective Holdings7.4
Top 10 Weight95.0%
Max Position27.8%
Top Sector (of Net Assets)100%
Top Country (of Net Assets)100%
ⓘ Methodology

Hover or click for definitions. Solid blue dots mark the fund: percentage rows on a 0–100% scale, holdings counts log-scaled across the clean-universe 5th–95th percentile range. The shaded band spans the fund's broad class (Fixed Income Funds) 25th–75th percentile, notched at the median. Holdings as of 7/31/2026.

Benchmark DifferentiationRef: Fixed Income Funds

vs AGGBroad Benchmark
Tracking Error1.7%
Benchmark Correlation0.94
ⓘ Methodology

One sub-card per benchmark: the market primary, then the style secondary — the gap between them is the style sleeve itself. Both anchors are Sparkline-inferred (market from asset class and region, style from the holdings size-and-style map), not the fund's official prospectus benchmark. Solid blue dot marks the fund; the shaded band spans the reference set's 25th–75th percentile, notched at the median (band follows the Peer Universe selector). Active Share compares the fund's book with the benchmark's, share for share; Tracking Error is the annualized daily deviation over the trailing two years (ruler runs to just past the universe's 95th percentile, or past the fund's own figure where that is larger); Benchmark Correlation is the plain daily correlation over the trailing year. Hover the labels for full definitions.

Peer Group Rank

See All Peer Groups
Metric
HISF
First Trust High Income Strategic Focus ETF
Peer Group
657 funds
Peer Asset Class
2,838 funds
YTD Return
-2.83%-2.78%48-2.33%42
1Y Return
-1.50%-1.96%62-1.51%50
3Y Return (Ann.)
5.02%4.91%554.80%55
5Y Return (Ann.)
1.16%-0.25%730.27%61
Expense Ratiohigher = cheaper
0.83%0.55%280.52%24
ⓘ Methodology

Sparkline's own holdings-based peer taxonomy (1,557 share classes across 657 funds). One share class shown per fund — the exchange-listed class where the SEC series has one, else its longest-history class; percentile ranks and medians are computed against the same deduped set. Quartile chips fill the layer the fund's rank falls in (top layer = best quartile). Funds without a full return history rank only on the horizons they cover.

Similar Funds

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Nearest funds across the whole universe, by holdings and behavior — the peer taxonomy is ignored, so matches can come from any category.

Top Similarity49
Top Overlap
Top Active Tilt
Top Return Corr
FundPeer Group
1FIXD
First Trust Smith Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF
Fixed Income - Unconstrained
Fixed Income - Unconstrained
49---
2LDSF
First Trust Low Duration Strategic Focus ETF
Fixed Income - Short-Term
Fixed Income - Short-Term
49---
3FTCB
First Trust Core Investment Grade ETF
Fixed Income - Core
Fixed Income - Core
49---
4FIIG
First Trust Intermediate Duration Investment Grade Corporate ETF
Fixed Income - IG Corporate
Fixed Income - IG Corporate
49---
5LMBS
First Trust Low Duration Opportunities ETF
Fixed Income - Short-Term
Fixed Income - Short-Term
49---
6FSIG
First Trust Limited Duration Investment Grade Corporate ETF
Fixed Income - Short-Term
Fixed Income - Short-Term
49---
7ACTIX
Advisors Capital Tactical Fixed Income Fund
Fixed Income - IG Corporate
Fixed Income - IG Corporate
44---
8IUSB
iShares Core Universal USD Bond ETF
Fixed Income - Core
Fixed Income - Core
37---
9BYLD
iShares Yield Optimized Bond ETF
Fixed Income - Core
Fixed Income - Core
37---
10IGIB
iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF
Fixed Income - IG Corporate
Fixed Income - IG Corporate
37---

The method columns are members-only — create a free account to see these figures.

ⓘ Methodology

Rows are the consensus top matches (a fund must place in at least two methods' top 250 to qualify, and matches missing more than one of this fund's own methods are not ranked — a row scored on fewer methods is a noisier estimate, not a better match). Click a method column to see that method's own top matches across the whole universe instead. Gray (N) beside each method's metric is that fund's rank in the whole universe on that method. Similarity is a percentile among match-grade fund pairs, 0–100 — 87 means the pair is closer than 87% of the strongest matches in the universe, averaged across the methods — so it compares across funds: index clones tie at the top with thousands of other clone pairs, so scores top out in the high 80s to 90s, while a one-of-a-kind fund's best match can score in the 30s. Rows are ordered by the Consensus Rank — the geometric mean of those universe ranks, shown in each cell's tooltip — and the score is held down the list to the level of the closest match above it, so equal scores mean equally close and the number reads as a floor. A dash means that method has no figure for the pair at all (one of them lacks the holdings or return history it needs). Hover a column header for each method's definition. The “Top…” strips above compare against every fund's own top match across the whole universe (they deliberately don't follow the Peer Universe selector); Top Similarity is simply the best match's score, with no reference band; the Holdings and Active Tilt strips carry no reference band because computing every fund's best book overlap would require a full holdings scan per fund — the dot stands alone on its natural 0–100% scale. One share class shown per fund, and a fund's own sister share classes are excluded from its Top-match strips. Holdings as of 7/31/2026. Consensus Rank is the geometric mean of the match's universe-wide rank across the methods (#1.0 = top match on every one). Holdings Overlap = common-holdings weight (sum of the minimum weight across shared positions, long only). Active Tilt Overlap = the same statistic on active weights (holdings minus the fund's own default benchmark, floored at 0), which strips the benchmark ballast that dominates raw overlap. Return Correlation = correlation of market-hedged daily returns over the trailing two years (CAPM residuals), so only market-beta co-movement is removed; requires ~18 months of daily history (378 of the window's 504 trading days).