EMLP vs VDE

EMLPCFirst Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund

VDEAVanguard Energy 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.

VDE Energy without the mega-cap tunnel vision. VDE tracks an index of roughly 110 US energy stocks, large down to small cap, for 0.09% a year, and it has been running since 2004.

Stated mandate

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

VDE The fund seeks to track the MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index, which represents large-, mid-, and small-cap U.S. energy-sector stocks.

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

• VDE Costs 0.09% a year, a fraction of what the typical energy sector fund charges.
• Casts a wider net than mega-cap-only energy funds: about 110 large-, mid- and small-cap US names, from the integrated majors to shale drillers and refiners.vanguard.com
• Hugs its benchmark closely and trades actively, which tends to keep spreads slim for everyday buys and sells.
• Live since 2004 and one of the strongest builds in the broad energy group, with a Vanguard fee structure that has only ratcheted downward.

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.

• VDE One sector, one storyline: this rides crude and natural gas prices, and it swings harder in both directions than a total-market fund.
• Cap-weighted, so a handful of US oil majors carry outsized weight despite the long holdings list; the index's 25/50 rules limit that concentration rather than erase it.vanguard.com
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and moves with what energy companies choose to pay out.

Full EMLP profile⁠

Full VDE profile⁠