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Gridlocked and Loaded: Electrification Sparks ELFY’s May Surge

  • Last month, the ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF (ELFY) returned an impressive 8.91%, thanks to momentum around growing electricity demand driving US electrification beneficiaries higher. ELFY, the newest fund amongst the SS&C ALPS Advisors ETF lineup, provides tactical exposure to the growing electrification theme as electricity demand is expected to break its long-term plateau with advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and manufacturing reshoring requiring more power than we’ve seen in the 21st century. 

  • ELFY’s Industrial sector was the best-performing sector in May, catalyzed by strong earnings thanks to new grid developments and continued infrastructure expansion. ELFY Industrials name, NEXTracker Inc. (NXT, 1.62% weight*), rallied 39.60% last month as the solar panel company saw strong bookings and a growing product backlog, elevating earnings past analyst estimates. Continuing the trend of strong earnings within ELFY’s Industrials sector, Regal Rexnord (RRX, 1.49% weight*) returned over 26% in May, after the factory automation company posted earnings and revenue above estimates, as the company saw strong sales due to high demand for humanoid robot products. Despite the current macro environment, as manufacturers brace for high tariffs, Regal Rexnord expects no slowdown in demand and raised its full-year guidance accordingly. Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK, 1.53% weight*), another ELFY industrial automation manufacturer, jumped 27.94% last month after management boosted revenue expectations for full-year 2025, thanks to the company's growing margins among hardware and software products, with higher prices expected to offset the impact of future tariffs.

  • While ELFY’s Industrials sector led sector gains in May, there were quite a few Utilities and Energy companies within the Fund also seeing a positive sentiment lift from unprecedented energy demand over the next decade. Within ELFY’s Utilities exposure, power generation company, NRG Energy Inc. (NRG, 1.91% weight*), was the top-performing name in ELFY, jumping 42.82% last month after agreeing to acquire a fleet of natural gas power plants for $12 billion to help meet growing energy demand for data centers. The power company expects the acquisition to close in the first quarter of 2026 and is expected to improve growth by 14% annually. Lastly, Energy sector name, Cameco Corp. (CCO CN, 1.68% weight*), a nuclear power company, rallied 29.69% in May after President Trump jumpstarted the nuclear power sector, announcing his plans to sign executive orders to ease the industry's regulatory process. 

“Global electricity demand is accelerating, driven by electrification, data centers and industrial growth...we see value in utilities, grid infrastructure, industrial electrification equipment and raw material suppliers needed to electrify our economy.”

– UBS Chief Investment Office, May 12, 2025

Power Constraints Have Created a Long-Term Roadmap for US Electrification Beneficiaries 
  • US power demand is now expected to hit record highs in the coming years as AI data centers, electric transport and infrastructure demand drive an electrification supercycle requiring the grid to grow at a faster pace than we have seen in decades. Evidence of this demand continues to appear across energy providers, with PG&E (PCG, 1.12% weight*) announcing a 60% rise (from 5.5 gigawatt (GW) est. in 2024 to 8.7GW) in capacity needed for new data centers over the next 10 years with 18 new data center projects opening under its operations between 2026-2030. While AI computing chips have led the cycle thus far, beneficiaries are likely to expand across industrial “picks-and-shovels” (control systems, sensors, wiring, precision cooling, etc.), as well as regulated utilities locking in incremental load through marginally higher rate-bases, and energy infrastructure names supplying natural gas and other sources of energy. 

  • For broad electrification beneficiaries, this sets up a multi-year runway beyond the current AI-boom as the energy supply-demand imbalance forces an infrastructure boom aided by government subsidies necessary to facilitate electrification growth. The ALPS Electrification Infrastructure ETF (ELFY) provides a disciplined exposure to US electrification names that are beginning to see the positive impact of increasing demand from grid infrastructure investment, data centers, advanced automation and re-shoring of US manufacturing.

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  • Since ELFY’s inception on 04/09/2025, the Fund has outpaced the S&P 500 Index by 318 basis points (bps) and the DOW by 946 bps.  

  • ELFY’s sector exposure (39.01% Utilities, 31.16% Industrials, 13.75% Information Technology, 13.35% Energy, 2.73% Materials) provides a diversified exposure to cyclical beneficiaries of the industrial and electrification supercycle.   

 

Performance Summary
  1 M SI
ELFY - NAV (Net Asset Value) 8.91% 22.05%
ELFY - Market Price  8.82% 22.05%
Ladenburg Thalmann Electrification Infrastructure Index - TR 8.96% 22.06%


Source: Bloomberg L.P. and SS&C ALPS Advisors, cumulative performance as of 05/31/2025

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate. Current performance may be higher or lower than the performance quoted. For current month-end performance call 1-866-759-5679 or visit www.alpsfunds.com. Performance includes reinvested distributions and capital gains.

Market Price is based on the midpoint of the bid/ask spread at 4 p.m. ET and does not represent the returns an investor would receive if shares were traded at other times.

Fund inception date: 04/09/2025

Total Operating Expenses: 0.50%

* Weight in ELFY as of 05/31/2025

 

Top 10 Holdings
NRG Energy Inc 1.91%   Vistra Corp 1.65%
Vertiv Holdings Co 1.81%   Comfort Systems USA Inc 1.63%
GE Vernova Inc 1.74%   NEXTracker Inc 1.62%
Constellation Energy Corp 1.73%   Amphenol Corp 1.58%
Cameco Corp 1.68%   Coherent Corp 1.55%


As of 05/31/2025, subject to change

Important Disclosures & Definitions

An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus containing this and other information, call 1-866-759-5679 or visit www.alpsfunds.com. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Shares of ETFs are bought and sold at market price (not NAV) and are not individually redeemable.

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results; current performance may be higher or lower than performance quoted.

All investments are subject to risks, including the loss of money and the possible loss of the entire principal amount invested. Additional information regarding the risks of this investment is available in the prospectus.

The Fund is new and has limited operating history.

The Fund invests in companies that are involved in conventional and alternative electricity generation, transmission, and distribution and technological solutions, as well as the development of grid infrastructure and smart grid technologies. General risks include the general state of the economy, intense competition, consolidation, domestic and international politics and excess capacity.

The Fund seeks to track the underlying index, which itself may have concentration in certain regions, economies, countries, markets, industries or sectors. Underperformance or increased risk in such concentrated areas may result in underperformance or increased risk in the Fund.

The Fund may be subject to risks relating to its investment in Canadian securities. Investments in securities of Canadian issuers involve risks and special considerations not typically associated with investments in the US securities markets and can make investments in the Fund more volatile and potentially less liquid than other types of investments.

Investing in securities of medium capitalization companies involves greater risk than customarily is associated with investing in larger, more established companies. The large capitalization companies in which the Fund invests may underperform other segments of the equity market or the equity market as a whole.

The Fund employs a “passive management” - or indexing - investment approach and seeks investment results that correspond (before fees and expenses) generally to the performance of its underlying index. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not “actively” managed. Therefore, it would not necessarily sell or buy a security unless that security is removed from or added to the underlying index, respectively.

Diversification does not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment losses.

Basis Point (bps): a unit that is equal to 1/100th of 1% and is used to denote the change in a financial instrument.

Dow Jones Industrial Average: a stock market index of 30 prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. The DJIA is one of the oldest and most commonly followed equity indexes.

Ladenburg Thalmann Electrification Infrastructure Index: designed to track the performance of US-listed large- and mid-capitalization companies in subsectors of the economy that are likely to benefit most consistently from the process of charging, equipping, supplying or operating with electricity, or the conversion of a machine or system to the use of electrical power (“electrification”).

S&P 500 Index: widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap US equities. The index includes 500 leading companies and covers approximately 80% of available market capitalization.

One may not invest directly in an index.

ALPS Advisors, Inc., registered investment adviser with the SEC, is the investment adviser to the Fund. ALPS Advisors, Inc. and ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc., affiliated entities, are unaffiliated with Osaic Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (including Ladenburg Thalmann Index, LLC).

ALPS Portfolio Solutions Distributor, Inc. is the distributor for the Fund.

Not FDIC Insured • No Bank Guarantee • May Lose Value

ELF000118  09/30/2025

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