EINC vs ENFR

EINCCVanEck Energy Income ETF

ENFRBAlerian Energy Infrastructure ETF

In short

EINC Pipes, not drills. EINC tracks an index of North American midstream companies in oil and gas storage and transportation, blending MLPs and corporations into one concentrated, quarterly-paying package.

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

EINC The Fund seeks to replicate the price and yield performance of the MVIS North America Energy Infrastructure Index before fees and expenses. That index covers North American midstream energy companies, including MLPs and corporations involved in oil and gas storage and transportation.

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

• EINC Buys the pipes and storage tanks rather than the drill bits: the index covers North American midstream oil and gas transportation and storage names.vaneck.com
• MLPs and corporations under one ticker, roughly 30 holdings, distributions paid quarterly.
• Trading since 2012, so it carries a real track record through more than a decade of energy cycles.
• Lands in the upper half of the broad energy funds we review, one of the steadier profiles in that group.

• 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

• EINC At 0.46% a year it costs several times the plain broad energy trackers (XLE, FENY, VDE), which run under a tenth of a percent. The midstream tilt is what the fee buys.
• Thinly traded and small next to the sector giants, so bid/ask spreads carry more weight at the moment of the trade.
• About 30 stocks in one corner of one sector. ENFR covers similar energy infrastructure ground at a lower fee.

• 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 EINC profile⁠

Full ENFR profile⁠