ENFR vs IXC

ENFRBAlerian Energy Infrastructure ETF

IXCBiShares Global Energy ETF

In short

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.

IXC Most energy ETFs stop at the US border. IXC owns the global oil and gas complex instead, roughly 50 producers and distributors worldwide, and it has been doing that job since 2001.

Stated mandate

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.

IXC The fund seeks to track an index of global energy-sector equities, offering exposure to companies involved in producing and distributing oil and gas.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• IXC Global by mandate, not by accident: the index covers energy companies producing and distributing oil and gas worldwide, so the portfolio is not fenced into the US market.ishares.com
• The benchmark is a capped version of the S&P Global 1200 Energy index, which limits how much any single supermajor can dominate the basket.ishares.com
• 0.37% a year, right at the median fee for its energy cohort, on a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Launched in 2001, so it has traded through multiple full oil cycles, and it sits in the upper half of its energy peer group.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• IXC One sector, about 50 stocks. This tracks the fortunes of oil and gas, and there is nowhere inside the fund to hide when those prices turn.
• Not the cheap seat in the cohort: peer PBOG charges 0.13% for a narrower integrated and E&P mandate.
• Distributions come on an annual or semiannual schedule, so any income arrives in lumps rather than a monthly drip.

Full ENFR profile⁠

Full IXC profile⁠