ETF Evaluator: First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF (EMLP) Follow This ETF

First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF Overview

First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF (EMLP) is an actively managed Sector Equity Energy Limited Partnership exchange-traded fund (ETF). First Trust launched the ETF in 2012.

The investment seeks total return. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies deemed by the sub-advisor to be engaged in the energy infrastructure sector. These companies principally include U.S. and Canadian natural gas and electric utilities, corporations operating energy infrastructure assets such as pipelines or renewable energy production, utilities, publicly-traded MLPs, MLP affiliates and energy infrastructure companies. It is non-diversified.

About First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF (EMLP)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.94 years: James Murchie (2012), Eva Pao (2012), Saul Ballesteros (2025) and John Tysseland (2016). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 3 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100%, Alerian MLP TR USD index with a weighting of 50% and PHLX Utilities PR USD index with a weighting of 50%. First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF has 63 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 44.7% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Sector Equity ETF group. First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF has 3.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 92.5% There is 3.4% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF has 4.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $3 billion in total assets, which is above the $1 billion average for the Energy Limited Partnership category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

EMLP Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Energy Limited Partnership category. First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF has an expense ratio of 0.95%, which is 25% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 36%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 19% for the Energy Limited Partnership category.

Recently, in the month of September 2026, First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF returned -6.3%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Energy Limited Partnership category had an average return of -7.8%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF has a trailing yield of 2.99%, which is below the 5.40% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

First Trust North Amer Engy InfrasETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 10.8%, 7.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 10.4% over the past year (grade of F), 19.6% over the past three years (grade of D) and 15.4% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 9.0% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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