EIP Growth and Income Fund received a Morningstar Rating of 4 stars for the three-, five- and ten-year periods, out of 99 Energy Limited Partnerships funds as of 3/31/2024.
Seeks to preserve the tax-deferred benefits of MLP distributions
No K-1s, one 1099, no unrelated business taxable income
EIPIX/EIPFX Fund Objective
The Fund’s primary investment objective is to seek a high level of total shareholder return that is balanced between current income and growth. As a secondary objective, the Fund will seek low volatility.
Management
Investment Strategy
The Fund’s Manager, Energy Income Partners LLC (EIP), invests mainly in equity securities issued by energy companies that are primarily involved in steady fee-for-service infrastructure that support the production and delivery of natural gas, oil or electricity, but may also selectively invest in other energy corporations. EIP believes that the best shareholder returns in the energy sector can be achieved by taking an active investment approach to owning equity securities of high-quality infrastructure assets (primarily transportation and storage) that are natural or legal monopolies. These businesses tend to have a cost-plus pricing model and sell their services under federal or state-level regulation and earn a “just and reasonable” regulated return on invested capital or long-term contracts that mimic this construct. EIP believes that since the invested capital that earns this allowed or agreed return tends to be stable and growing, the earnings of such companies also tend to be stable and growing. EIP also believes that the stability of earnings makes business planning more predictable which often leads to faster growth and a higher dividend payout ratio. EIP believes the formula for success for an energy company and its investors can be succinctly rendered as the low-cost way of shipping and delivering the lowest cost energy.
A major distinction in EIP’s approach to stock selection and portfolio construction is its relative indifference to the formal bucketing of companies according to criteria such as industry sector or asset class. EIP is agnostic as to whether a company’s asset base entails “poles and wires” or “pipes and tanks,” or whether it is organized as a partnership such as an MLP or a taxable C-Corporation or whether it belongs to a specific index. Rather, EIP bases its investment decisions upon strict criteria related to performance and believes that the better its assets, balance sheet, competitive position, management team, etc., the better its long-term earnings stability, growth, security of dividend and total return.
Investing in mutual funds entails risk, including the loss of principal. Please review the risks of investing in the EIP Growth and Income Fund.
Top Ten Holdings
| Energy Transfer, L.P. | 7.37% |
| ONEOK, Inc. | 6.33% |
| Enterprise Products Partners, L.P. | 6.23% |
| DT Midstream, Inc. | 4.29% |
| MPLX, L.P. | 3.53% |
| Targa Resources Corp | 3.19% |
| Shell PLC – ADR | 3.02% |
| National Fuel Gas Co | 2.94% |
| TotalEnergies SE – ADR | 2.93% |
| Alliant Energy Corp | 2.44% |
As of 3/31/2024
Portfolio by Business Sector
- Petroleum Trans
- Nat Gas Trans
- Terminals & Stor
- Oth Midstream
- Reg Power
- Other
- Petroleum Trans
- Nat Gas Trans
- Terminals & Stor
- Oth Midstream
- Reg Power
- Other
Portfolio by Asset Class
- MLP-LP Units
- GP MLP & C-Corp
- YieldCo & Oth
- Elec & Gas Util
- MLP-LP Units
- GP MLP & C-Corp
- YieldCo & Oth
- Elec & Gas Util
Portfolio allocation charts represent the total equity exposure of the portfolio as a percentage of net assets (unaudited). Source: EIP calculations based upon Corporate Reports as of 3/31/2024 for the EIP Growth and Income Fund. There is no guarantee that future Fund diversification metrics will be similar to those above. EIP reserves the right to concentrate its investments in any combination that it deems appropriate and may change the concentration and weightings, at any time, at EIPs sole discretion. Charts exclude bond and cash positions. Top Ten Holdings are subject to change at any time.
Growth of $10,000
Performance Summary 12/31/23
| Quarter | YTD | 1 year | 3 Year | 5 Year | 10 Year | ITD* | |
| EIPIX | 8.26% | 8.26% | 14.49% | 14.37% | 9.23% | 5.15% | 9.14% |
| EIPFX | 8.14% | 8.14% | 14.04% | 13.90% | 8.80% | — | — |
| SPTR† | 10.56% | 10.56% | 29.88% | 11.49% | 15.05% | 12.96% | 10.44% |
| AMZX† | 13.89% | 13.89% | 38.46% | 29.44% | 11.46% | 3.05% | 8.09% |
*ITD- Inception to Date, Fund Inception date 8/22/2006
†Indices are unmanaged, don’t incur fees and an investment cannot be made directly in an index.
The performance data quoted represents past performance and is no indication of future performance. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that investor shares when redeemed may be worth more or less than their original costs; and the current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. Please call 1-844-766-8694 for the most recent month-end performance.
The Institutional Class Shares (EIPIX) commenced operations on 08/22/2006, performance shown of the Investor Class Shares (EIPFX) prior to inception, 10/18/16, is based on the performance of the EIPIX Shares, adjusted for the higher expenses applicable to Investor Class Shares including the 12b-1 fee and the administrative services fee. This performance has not been experienced by any Investor Class shareholder and there is no assurance that the Investor Class shareholder will experience this performance in the future.
* The Alerian MLP Total Return Index is a composite of the most prominent energy MLPs calculated by Standards & Poor’s using a float-adjusted market capitalization methodology on a total-return basis. Alerian MLP Index, Alerian MLP Total Return Index “AMZ” and “AMZX” are trademarks of Alerian. The S&P 500 Total Return Index is an index of 500 stocks chosen for market size, liquidity and industry grouping, among other factors. The S&P 500 is designed to be a leading indicator of U.S. equities and is meant to reflect the risk/return characteristics of the large cap universe.
Institutional Class
| Ticker | EIPIX |
| CUSIP | 268529203 |
| Minimum Investment | $1,000,000 |
| Redemption fee | None |
| Maximum front-end sales load | None |
| Maximum deferred-end sales load | None |
| Gross Expense Ratio^ | 1.47% |
| Net Expense Ratio^ | 1.25% |
| Expense Cap^ | 1.25% |
| Ex-Date | 3/27/24 |
| Record Date | 3/26/24 |
| Payment Date | 3/27/24 |
| Distribution Rate/Share | $0.161 |
Investor Class
| Ticker | EIPFX |
| CUSIP | 268529104 |
| Minimum Investment | $2,500 |
| 12b-1 fee | 0.25% |
| Redemption fee | None |
| Maximum front-end sales load | None |
| Maximum deferred-end sales load | None |
| Gross Expense Ratio^ | 1.98% |
| Net Expense Ratio^ | 1.65% |
| Expense Cap^ | 1.25% |
| Ex-Date | 3/27/24 |
| Record Date | 3/26/24 |
| Payment Date | 3/27/24 |
| Distribution Rate/Share | $0.141 |
Details
| Objective | Total Return |
| Total Assets | $82 million |
| Fiscal Year-end | October |
| Structure | Regulated Investment Company (RIC) |
Quarterly Fact Sheet
The Fund was registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 on August 22, 2006 and offered through a confidential private placement memorandum. On October 14, 2016, Fund shares were registered under the Securities Act of 1933. The Fund performance is net of actual fees and expenses incurred by the Fund.
^EIPIX: The gross and net expense ratios include interest expense. The expense limitation and reimbursement is a contractual agreement between the Adviser and the Fund that was initiated in February 2016 at a 2.00% expense cap, amended January 1, 2018 to 1.50% and amended again April 29, 2018 to 1.25%, effective until February 28, 2024. If such contractual agreement were not in place, the Fund’s performance would be reduced during that time period.
^EIPFX: The gross and net expense ratios include interest expense, Distribution (12b-1) and Administrative Service Plan fees. The expense limitation and reimbursement is a contractual agreement between the Adviser and the Fund that was initiated in February 2016 at a 2.00% expense cap, amended January 1, 2018 to 1.50% and amended again April 29, 2018 to 1.25%, effective until February 28, 2024. If such contractual agreement were not in place, the Fund’s performance would be reduced during that time period.
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Morningstar Rating
© 2024 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or “star rating”, is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.
With respect to the Energy Limited Partnerships funds, EIP Growth and Income Fund received a Morningstar Rating of 1 star for the three-year and 5 star for five- and ten- year periods, out of 98, 89 and 62 Energy Limited Partnership funds respectively, as of 3/31/2024.