NFRA vs SIMS

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

SIMSBState Street SPDR S&P Kensho Intelligent Structures ETF

In short

NFRA Most global infrastructure funds stop at utilities and toll roads. NFRA's index goes wider, adding cell towers, data centers, hospitals, prisons and postal routes to the pipelines and railroads, across developed and emerging markets.

SIMS Most infrastructure funds own the concrete and the toll booths. SIMS tracks an S&P Kensho index built around the smart version of that buildout, roughly 50 stocks at 0.45% a year.

Stated mandate

NFRA The fund seeks to match, before fees and expenses, the performance of the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index.

SIMS The fund seeks to track the S&P Kensho Intelligent Infrastructure Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• NFRA Five supersectors in one wrapper: communications, energy, utilities, transportation and government outsourcing (hospitals, postal, correctional), across roughly 220 holdings.flexshares.com
• Charges 0.47% net (0.48% gross), net of a waiver through March 1, 2027, below the infrastructure category median.
• The index does real work: half of revenue must come from infrastructure, names must clear a $1 million daily-volume screen, and sector caps limit crowding. Rebalanced quarterly.flexshares.com
• Listed in 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly, it sits among the stronger builds in its peer group.

• SIMS At 0.45% a year it undercuts the typical infrastructure ETF fee, and comes in below PAVE's 0.47%.
• Roughly 50 stocks from S&P's Kensho intelligent infrastructure index, not the usual utility and pipeline roster wearing a theme label.
• Live since 2017 under State Street, so a niche theme comes with a real track record and a large issuer's operational backing.
• Portfolio construction is the strong suit here, and the fund lands in the upper half of the infrastructure ETFs we grade.

Worth knowing

• NFRA Cheaper options sit on the same shelf: IFRA at 0.30%, IGF at 0.37%, GII at 0.40%. Each tracks a different index with a different definition of infrastructure.
• Broad cuts both ways: telecoms, railroads and postal operators share the portfolio with utilities, so this is not a pure regulated-utility sleeve.flexshares.comflexshares.com 2
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can mean wider spreads on larger orders.

• SIMS Small asset base and thin trading, so spreads can widen. Limit orders matter more here than with the category's household names.
• One theme, roughly 50 names: this has been one of the choppier rides in the infrastructure group.
• Cheap for the cohort, not the cheapest in it: IFRA (0.30%) and IGF (0.37%) both charge less.

Full NFRA profile⁠

Full SIMS profile⁠