TRUF vs UTES

TRUFCVanEck Financials TruSector ETF

UTESBVirtus Reaves Utilities ETF

In short

TRUF Most active funds exist to beat a benchmark. TRUF is active so it can hug one: it holds US financials at true market weight, sidestepping the diversification caps that force many sector funds to shrink their largest names.

UTES Utilities, but stock-picked. UTES has run an active, value-driven, bottom-up portfolio of electricity, gas and water companies since 2015, at a fee below what the typical active US equity ETF charges.

Stated mandate

TRUF The Fund is an actively managed ETF seeking long-term capital appreciation through securities of financials-related companies or instruments providing exposure to such companies.

UTES The Fund seeks total return from capital appreciation and income.

Why people hold it

• TRUF A 0.10% expense ratio, against a 0.65% median for actively managed US equity funds in its peer group.
• The hybrid build (individual stocks plus targeted ETFs) keeps a sector's biggest contributors at uncapped weight while staying inside fund diversification rules.businesswire.comvaneck.com
• Roughly 80 names, measured against the MarketVector Top US Financials Companies Index. The mandate is the sector itself, not a stock picker's shortlist.

• UTES Real stock picking in a quiet sector: a value-based, bottom-up process hunting utility names with room for income growth and capital appreciation.
• The 0.49% fee undercuts the 0.65% median for active US equity ETFs in its peer group, so the manager isn't digging out of a cost hole.
• Live since 2015 and now a billion-dollar-plus fund that trades easily, it sits in the upper half of its active US equity peer group.
• Pays on a quarterly schedule, matching a mandate that chases total return from both capital appreciation and income.

Worth knowing

• TRUF VanEck says financials has not suffered the weighting distortions that hit tech and consumer discretionary, so the problem this structure solves is smaller here.vaneck.com
• Launched in 2026 and still a small fund, so spreads can run wider than in the sector's household-name ETFs. Limit orders are the usual tool for that.
• Owning other ETFs brings acquired fund fees, one of the items VanEck's expense arrangement does not cover, so total cost sits above the headline fee.vaneck.com

• UTES At least 80% of assets sit in companies tied to generating or distributing electricity, gas or water. This is one sector, not the whole market.
• Cheap for active, pricey next to the broad index-style leaders in its cohort such as DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%).
• No declared index behind it. The portfolio reflects the manager's judgment, so there's no benchmark to grade tracking against.

Full TRUF profile⁠

Full UTES profile⁠