CRAK vs ENFR

CRAKCVanEck Oil Refiners ETF

ENFRBAlerian Energy Infrastructure ETF

In short

CRAK The refinery trade in one ticker. CRAK owns the global companies that turn crude into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, businesses whose economics ride the processing spread rather than the price of a barrel.

ENFR Midstream, not drillers. ENFR owns the pipelines, storage tanks and processing plants that move North American energy, tracking the Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index in a compact portfolio of roughly two dozen names.

Stated mandate

CRAK The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS Global Oil Refiners Index, a rules-based modified-capitalization-weighted index covering companies involved in crude-oil refining and related refined petroleum products.

ENFR ENFR seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Alerian Midstream Energy Select Index. It also seeks total return through income and capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• CRAK A real pure play: the index only admits companies generating at least 50% of revenue from crude oil refining, so you get processors, not drillers with a refinery attached.sec.gov
• Global by design. The index covers the worldwide refining segment and can hold depositary receipts, reaching refiners listed well outside the US.sec.gov
• A different engine from broad energy funds: refiners buy crude and sell gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and naphtha, so the input-to-output spread drives the business.sec.gov
• Trading since 2015, a long run for a single-industry theme fund, and built on a rules-based index rather than a manager's picks.sec.gov

• ENFR Charges 0.35%, under the 0.45% median for broad energy ETFs and below iShares' IYE at 0.38%.
• Different engine than most energy funds: infrastructure operators rather than the explorers and refiners whose fortunes swing with the barrel price.alpsfunds.com
• Income is written into the mandate: the fund seeks total return through income and capital appreciation, and distributions come on a quarterly schedule.
• Trading since 2013 and rated among the stronger names in our broad energy peer group.

Worth knowing

• CRAK At 0.61% a year, it costs more than broad energy index funds such as XLE and FENY at 0.08%. That is the toll for slicing out one link in the chain.
• Non-diversified and about 30 names, so one refiner's outage or margin miss can move the whole fund.sec.gov
• Overseas holdings bring currency and foreign-market risk, and distributions land annually or semiannually rather than monthly.sec.gov

• ENFR Around 26 holdings in one slice of one sector. Single-name news and midstream-specific swings land harder here than in a diversified energy fund.
• The broad energy giants (XLE, FENY, VDE) all sit under 0.10%. Specialist indexing costs more.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume heavyweight, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the largest energy ETFs.

Full CRAK profile⁠

Full ENFR profile⁠