First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund

Ralph Lauren’s stock price hasn’t shown any signs of improvement this year. Its stock price has fallen more than 23% YTD (year-to-date) as of May 13, 2016.

Despite a decline in earnings, Ralph Lauren continues to hold $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet.

During its fiscal 4Q16 earnings release and in its investor presentation last week, the J.M. Smucker Company (SJM) discussed its outlook for fiscal 2017.

Ralph Lauren has been a consistent dividend payer. It has paid dividends worth $548 million over the five-year period between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2015.

Ralph Lauren’s fiscal 2015 sales stood at $7.6 billion, which represents a growth of 2.3% on a reported basis and of 4% on a constant currency basis.

In retail, Ralph Lauren operated 143 Ralph Lauren stores, 64 Club Monaco stores, and 259 factory outlets at the end of fiscal 2015.

FEX currently manages a total portfolio of $1.76 billion distributed primarily over the financial, consumer discretionary, and industrials sectors.

FEX follows an equal weighted index, and its top ten holdings constitute just 5.20% of its total portfolio.

FEX has performed negatively in the market with a YTD return of -1.8%. The primary reason for its poor performance is its sensitive-to-market alpha holdings.

Some of FEX’s top holdings are Murphy Oil (MUR), NVIDIA Corp (NVDA), Tegna (TGNA), General Motors (GM), and Activision Blizzard (ATVI). FEX was launched on August 5, 2007 and has an expense ratio of 0.64%.

The First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX ETF (FEX) is based on the Defined Large Cap Core Index. The index provider selects stocks on the basis of alpha.

The First Trust Value Line Dividend Index Fund (FVD) is smart beta fund. It seeks to replicate the performance of the Value Line Dividend Index.

There used to be about three flash sales per week. By year end fiscal 2015, Coach plans to have no more than one or two such sales per month.