Making its debut on 04/09/2025, smart beta exchange traded fund ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF (ELFY) provides investors broad exposure to the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Alps, and has been able to amass over $200.08 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the LADENBURG THALMANN ELECTRIFICTN INFRA ID.
The Ladenburg Thalmann Electrification Infrastructure Index measures the performance of publicly-listed large-capitalization and mid-capitalization companies that are positioned to benefit from electrification.
Cost & Other Expenses
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
With on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.50%.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.01%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Representing 34.3% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Utilities sector; Industrials and Energy round out the top three.
When you look at individual holdings, Ge Vernova Inc. (GEV) accounts for about 1.05% of the fund's total assets, followed by Zebra Technologies Corp. (ZBRA) and Acuity Inc. (AYI).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 9.88% of ELFY's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF has added roughly 21.04% so far, and it's up approximately 24.26% over the last 12 months (as of 08/14/2026). ELFY has traded between $33.51 $45.61 in this past 52-week period.
ELFY has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 19.60% for the trailing three-year period. With about 116 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure ETF (GRID) tracks NASDAQ OMX Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index and the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE) tracks INDXX U.S. Infrastructure Development Index. First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure ETF has $12.3 billion in assets, Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF has $14.32 billion. GRID has an expense ratio of 0.56% and PAVE changes 0.47%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF (ELFY): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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