NLSI vs TACU

NLSIFNEOS Long/Short Equity Income ETF

TACUAT. Rowe Price Active Core U.S. Equity ETF

In short

NLSI NEOS built its name selling S&P 500 options for income. NLSI straps that overlay onto an actively run long/short U.S. stock book and pays monthly. An income-first spin on a hedge-fund staple.

TACU T. Rowe Price's quant-plus-fundamental take on core large-cap U.S. stock, benchmarked to the Russell 1000. Gross fee 0.14%, fully waived to zero through January 30, 2027.

Stated mandate

NLSI The Fund seeks high monthly income with potential equity appreciation. It uses an actively managed long/short U.S. equity strategy and an options overlay.

TACU The fund seeks long-term capital growth through a primarily U.S. equity portfolio. It combines quantitative models with fundamental, bottom-up analysis and seeks excess returns relative to the Russell 1000 Index.

Why people hold it

• NLSI Two engines under one ticker: an actively managed long/short U.S. equity portfolio, plus an SPX put-spread overlay written to generate monthly cash.neosfunds.com
• The overlay uses index options, which qualify as Section 1256 contracts: gains split 60% long-term and 40% short-term no matter how long they were held.neosfunds.comneosfunds.com 2
• Shorts sit beside longs by design, putting more weight on the manager's stock selection and less on the market's direction.neosfunds.com
• Distributions land monthly, and each one comes with a 19a-1 notice breaking out option premium, dividends, gains and return of capital.neosfunds.com

• TACU Fee fully waived: 0.14% gross, zero net through January 30, 2027. That sits below every top-scoring peer in the category, including DFAU at 0.12% with no waiver.troweprice.com
• Quant models feed bottom-up stock picking with tilts to profitability, quality and value, chasing excess return over the Russell 1000 while holding tracking error tight.troweprice.com
• Several hundred large-cap names, so no single position runs the show. One of the stronger profiles in a crowded active U.S. equity field.troweprice.com

Worth knowing

• NLSI Total expenses run 2.89% a year, far above typical active U.S. equity ETFs. Much of it is dividend and interest cost on the short book, but it hits returns the same way.neosfunds.com
• Launched in December 2025, so a proprietary long/short model is running with very little public track record behind it, in a small fund next to its category's giants.
• Payouts have been classified as return of capital, which reduces your cost basis rather than adding to it. Useful for deferral, not the same thing as pure yield.neosfunds.com

• TACU Launched in December 2025, so the live record is short and the risk read rests on limited history.
• Still a small fund that trades lightly, which can mean wider spreads than the category's giants.
• Distributions are annual at most, with no declared income target. This is a growth mandate, not a cash-flow one.

Full NLSI profile⁠

Full TACU profile⁠