Two energy infrastructure funds with nearly identical sector bets have produced meaningfully different long-term returns, and the spread points toward one clear pick. An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, pools investors' money to buy a basket of securities and trades on a stock exchange like a single share. The Alerian MLP ETF (NYSEMKT: AMLP), managed by ALPS Funds, and the First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (NYSEMKT: EMLP), managed by First Trust, both target North American energy infrastructure, but their ten-year annualized returns as of August 6, 2026 stood at 7.1% and 10%, respectively.
Concentration versus diversification
AMLP holds 14 positions, with 98% of assets in energy and 2% in utilities. Its three largest holdings are Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN) at 14.4%, Plains All America Pipeline LP at 13.4%, and Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) at 13.2%. That narrow focus is built around master limited partnerships, or MLPs: business structures common in midstream oil and gas pipelines and storage that pay no corporate income tax, passing distributions and the associated tax bill to investors instead.
EMLP takes a wider approach. It holds 65 positions across a mix that is 55% utilities and 26% energy, with an ESG screen filtering its investment universe. Its largest single holding, Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD), accounts for 8.8% of assets, and the fund also carries a 7.4% cash position held in an institutional money market fund with Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). The broader spread kept the fund's maximum five-year drawdown at 14.6%, compared with 20.9% for AMLP.
The income side of the ledger
AMLP's yield is the headline number. It paid $4.02 per share over the trailing twelve months, a 7.4% yield on its August 6 share price of $55.03. EMLP paid $1.21 per share over the same period, a 2.8% yield on its $43.63 share price.
Both funds wrap MLP ownership inside a single 1099 tax form each year, sparing investors the K-1 paperwork that comes with owning MLPs directly. The trade-off is an expense ratio that includes an estimate for the tax liability the fund absorbs on investors' behalf. AMLP's total expense ratio is 1.01%, of which 0.17% represents that estimated future liability. EMLP's expense ratio is 0.95%. Both figures are expected to rise as each fund accumulates distributions over time.
What the full record shows
AMLP leads on short-term measures. Its one-year total return through August 6 was 21.1%, versus 18.4% for EMLP. A $1,000 investment in AMLP five years ago grew to $2,525; the same stake in EMLP grew to $2,126. The ten-year annualized figures tell a different story. EMLP's 10% annualized return over the decade compares with AMLP's 7.1%, a gap that compounds meaningfully across the full period. EMLP, which launched in 2012, holds $4.1 billion in assets. AMLP launched in 2010 and holds $13.2 billion.