First Trust, Chaikin Analytics Partner on New Offering

The product, First Trust's Chaikin Low Beta Growth Portfolio Unit Investment Trust (UIT), Series 1, will leverage Chaikin’s simple rules-based methodology by evaluating companies in the S&P 500 with an underlying Chaikin Power Gauge rating of 'bullish' or 'very bullish' and three-year average betas in the lowest five deciles.

Chaikin helped First Trust select the securities in the UIT by identifying 20 large capitalization companies using factor screens designed to identify low-beta stocks with a bullish underlying Chaikin Power Gauge Rating where earnings are being reinvested back into the company. The analytics use a 20-factor quantamental (hybrid quantitative and fundamental) model that incorporates value, earnings, expert opinions and technical factors to produce a rating for 5000 US-listed equities.

The UIT, which is available to investors through broker-dealers nationwide, allows investors to hold the portfolio for 15 months, thus benefitting from favorable long-term capital gains treatment.

“This new UIT launched by First Trust Portfolios demonstrates the efficacy and uniqueness of the Chaikin technology-driven approach to stock analysis," says CEO Marc Chaikin. "We are delighted to be collaborating with such a respected and innovative company as First Trust, to offer financial advisors and their clients a new way to benefit from long-term investment vehicles that have been traditionally reserved for institutional firms.”