IFRA vs RBLD

IFRAAiShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

RBLDBFirst Trust Alerian U.S. NextGen Infrastructure ETF

In short

IFRA Most infrastructure funds pick a side: the companies that build the stuff, or the ones that own it. IFRA holds both, stays entirely American, and charges well under the category's typical fee.

RBLD First Trust's US-only infrastructure sleeve: roughly 100 stocks picked under Alerian's NextGen banner, quarterly distributions, and a shingle that has been hanging since 2008.

Stated mandate

IFRA The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. companies with infrastructure exposure, balancing infrastructure enablers and infrastructure asset owners.

RBLD The Fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Alerian U.S. NextGen Infrastructure Index before fees and expenses, using an indexing approach.

Why people hold it

• IFRA 0.30% a year, roughly half the typical fee in the infrastructure category and cheaper than bigger-name rivals IGF (0.37%), GII (0.40%) and PAVE (0.47%).
• Tracks the NYSE FactSet U.S. Infrastructure Index, which balances the enablers (builders and suppliers) against the asset owners, rather than betting on the construction cycle alone.
• Roughly 160 holdings spread the theme wide, and the fund pays out quarterly.
• Running since 2018 with over a billion in assets, it sits among the strongest implementations in its infrastructure peer group.

• RBLD Rules first: it aims to track the Alerian U.S. NextGen Infrastructure Index, so the lineup comes from published index rules rather than a manager's hunch.ftportfolios.com
• Roughly 100 names spread the risk, and its holdings mix is one of the stronger builds on a crowded infrastructure shelf.
• On the market since 2008, so there is a long, real-world record behind it, not a back-test from the last theme cycle.
• Distributions arrive on a quarterly schedule, the standard rhythm for an equity index fund.

Worth knowing

• IFRA US-only by design. The overseas toll roads, airports and utilities that global peers like IGF and GII hold are simply not here.
• A narrow slice of the market, so it can move quite differently from a broad US index in either direction.
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy. Limit orders are the sane default, especially around the open and close.

• RBLD At 0.65% a year it runs above the typical infrastructure fund, and well above broad peers such as IFRA (0.30%) and PAVE (0.47%).
• It trades lightly off a mid-size asset base, so spreads can run wider than in the category's household names, which matters most on big or hurried orders.
• "NextGen" is defined by Alerian's index rules, so the roster can look different from a classic utilities-and-toll-roads infrastructure basket.ftportfolios.com

Full IFRA profile⁠

Full RBLD profile⁠