NVIR vs VDE

NVIRFHorizon Kinetics Energy Remediation ETF

VDEAVanguard Energy ETF

In short

NVIR Most energy ETFs buy the oil patch by index weight. NVIR is Horizon Kinetics hand-picking roughly 40 companies across the US, Canada and Australia that it expects to benefit as attention turns to cleaner carbon-based energy production.

VDE Energy without the mega-cap tunnel vision. VDE tracks an index of roughly 110 US energy stocks, large down to small cap, for 0.09% a year, and it has been running since 2004.

Stated mandate

NVIR The Fund seeks long-term capital growth. It is actively managed and invests primarily in companies expected to benefit from increasing attention to climate and environmentally sensitive carbon-based energy production.

VDE The fund seeks to track the MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index, which represents large-, mid-, and small-cap U.S. energy-sector stocks.

Why people hold it

• NVIR Actively managed with a value-driven, bottom-up process. Nobody is tracking a benchmark here; the portfolio is a stock-by-stock set of picks, roughly 40 names deep.
• A slice of energy that broad sector funds blend away: companies positioned to gain as climate and environmental pressure reshapes how carbon-based energy gets produced.
• The mandate reaches past the US into Canada and Australia, two resource-heavy markets, rather than fishing only in the domestic energy pond.

• VDE Costs 0.09% a year, a fraction of what the typical energy sector fund charges.
• Casts a wider net than mega-cap-only energy funds: about 110 large-, mid- and small-cap US names, from the integrated majors to shale drillers and refiners.vanguard.com
• Hugs its benchmark closely and trades actively, which tends to keep spreads slim for everyday buys and sells.
• Live since 2004 and one of the strongest builds in the broad energy group, with a Vanguard fee structure that has only ratcheted downward.

Worth knowing

• NVIR You pay 0.85% for the stock-picking. Index-tracking energy peers run far cheaper, with XES at 0.35% and MLPX at 0.45%.
• Small fund, light trading. Spreads can be wider than on the big sector ETFs, so the price you get depends on how you place the order.
• Launched in 2023, with roughly 40 holdings and distributions once or twice a year. Short track record, concentrated portfolio, no monthly income rhythm.

• VDE One sector, one storyline: this rides crude and natural gas prices, and it swings harder in both directions than a total-market fund.
• Cap-weighted, so a handful of US oil majors carry outsized weight despite the long holdings list; the index's 25/50 rules limit that concentration rather than erase it.vanguard.com
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and moves with what energy companies choose to pay out.

Full NVIR profile⁠

Full VDE profile⁠