EVPF vs PFFA

EVPFBEaton Vance Preferred Securities and Income ETF

PFFADVirtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF

In short

EVPF Eaton Vance's preferred-securities team, ETF-wrapped: an active, concentrated run at the preferred and hybrid market for 0.39% a year, under the category's median fee. Active stock-picking in a corner usually sold by the index.

PFFA Most preferred-stock funds just track an index. PFFA hand-picks its preferreds, borrows 20-30% to amplify the income stream, writes options on top, and pays monthly.

Stated mandate

EVPF The Fund seeks total return and current income, primarily through preferred securities and other income-producing securities.

PFFA The fund seeks current income and, secondarily, capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio of U.S. preferred stocks. It also uses options strategies and modest leverage to enhance income and total return.

Why people hold it

• EVPF Active in a category built on indexes: Eaton Vance's fundamental team picks across preferred and hybrid securities instead of owning whatever a benchmark lists.morganstanley.com
• At 0.39% a year, with no waiver propping it up, it undercuts index heavyweights PFF and PSK (0.45% each) and sits below the category median. Rare pricing for an active mandate.
• Income is the mandate, not a byproduct: total return plus current income from preferred securities, with distributions declared monthly under the prospectus.
• For a fund launched in 2026, the package lands in the upper tier of the roughly thirty US preferred ETFs on cost and mandate clarity.

• PFFA Genuinely active, not an index in disguise: managers select and weight preferreds on valuation and research, and layer options strategies over the book.virtus.com
• Modest leverage, typically 20-30%, amplifies both income and price swings. That mechanism is the line between this and a plain preferred tracker.virtus.com
• Pays monthly, spread across roughly 200 preferred positions rather than a handful of concentrated bets.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively for a niche corner, which helps keep bid-ask friction manageable.

Worth knowing

• EVPF Born March 2026, so there is no multi-cycle record of how the managers steer through a rate shock or a credit wobble.
• Smaller and thinner-traded than the category's index incumbents, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the biggest preferred funds.
• About 80 positions in preferred and hybrid securities, a rate- and credit-sensitive corner that ranks below bonds in the capital stack.sec.gov

• PFFA The 2.11% expense ratio runs several times the typical fund in its income peer group. That is a real hurdle the strategy has to clear.
• Leverage cuts both ways: borrowed money deepens declines as well as gains, and preferreds are already sensitive to rates and credit stress.virtus.com
• It sits in a peer group of cheap dividend-growth funds (CGDV, TDVG, both well under 1%). Different asset class, different machinery, very different price tag.

Full EVPF profile⁠

Full PFFA profile⁠