EMLP vs FENY

EMLPCFirst Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund

FENYAFidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF

In short

EMLP The pipeline-and-utility fund that refused to turn itself into a C-corp. EMLP keeps direct MLP holdings under 25% of assets to stay a plain 1940 Act fund, then fills out the book with US and Canadian pipelines and regulated utilities, hand-picked since 2012.

FENY One of the cheapest ways to own U.S. energy: 0.08% a year for roughly 110 energy stocks tracked through MSCI's full-market benchmark. No stock picking, no clever tilts, just the sector at cost.

Stated mandate

EMLP The Fund seeks total return. Its strategy emphasizes current shareholder distributions and dividends while investing principally in energy infrastructure companies.

FENY Seeks investment returns that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Energy 25/50 Index. The fund invests at least 80% of assets in securities included in that index and uses representative sampling.

Why people hold it

• EMLP Staying RIC-eligible by capping direct MLP exposure below 25% means the fund itself is exempt from the corporate income tax that pure-play MLP funds carry.ftportfolios.com
• Regulated US and Canadian gas and electric utilities sit beside the pipelines, a different engine than the oil-major-heavy broad energy funds.sec.gov
• Sub-advised by Energy Income Partners, a Westport shop founded in 2003 around high-payout energy infrastructure. Running since 2012, pays quarterly.sec.gov

• FENY Costs 0.08% a year against a 0.45% median for broad energy funds. Only XLE matches it; VDE, IYE and ENFR all charge more.
• Tracks MSCI's USA IMI energy benchmark, a full-market read on the sector, so the basket runs roughly 110 names deep rather than a short list.
• Returns have lined up closely with the index it follows, and it trades actively. As implementations of broad energy go, this is one of the tidiest in the group.
• Running since 2013, so it has a long record through both oil booms and busts, and Fidelity has kept it plain vanilla the whole way.

Worth knowing

• EMLP 0.95% a year is the bill for the active approach. Index-tracking peers in the group, XLE and FENY, charge 0.08%.
• About 60 names and non-diversified, tilted to pipelines and utilities, so its path can part ways with broad energy indexes.sec.gov
• There is no public index keeping score. Results are measured against a blended benchmark, so they ride on the manager's judgment.

• FENY One sector, one country. Oil and gas prices set the mood here, and the swings run wider than a total-market fund's.
• The index weights by company size, so even with roughly 110 holdings a handful of giants carry most of the load.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, which matters if you are pacing income.

Full EMLP profile⁠

Full FENY profile⁠