ETF Evaluator: First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF () Follow This ETF

First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF Overview

First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF (MMSC) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Growth exchange-traded fund (ETF). First Trust launched the ETF in 2021.

The investment seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities issued by small capitalization companies. The fund's adviser considers small capitalization companies to be those companies with market capitalizations, at the time of investment, within the market capitalization range of the companies comprising the Russell 2000® Growth Index. SIMG recommends securities to First Trust with respect to its allocated portion of the fund’s assets pursuant to its foundational belief that earnings growth drives stock performance. The fund is non-diversified.

About First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF (MMSC)

There are 15 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.80 years: Daniel Lindquist (2021), Jon Erickson (2021), David McGarel (2021), John Thornton (2021), Jeffrey James (2021), Stan Ueland (2021), Chris Peterson (2021), Kelly Ranucci (2021), Samuel Chase (2021), Michael Buck (2021), John Keller (2021), Prakash Vijayan (2021), Erik Russo (2021), Roger Testin (2021) and Ryan Crane (2021). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 Growth TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF has 211 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 12.5% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity ETF group. First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF has 4.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 94.4% There is 4.4% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF has 1.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $50 million in total assets, which is below the $2 billion average for the Small Growth category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

MMSC Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Growth category. First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF has an expense ratio of 0.95%, which is 120% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 84%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 74% for the Small Growth category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF returned -7.8%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Small Growth category had an average return of -5.5%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.44% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

First Trust Multi-Manager Sm Cp Opps ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 13.9%, 2.8 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 29.3% over the past year (grade of C) and 18.0% over the past three years (grade of A).

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