COLLEGE PLANNING | ESTATE PLANNING | INVESTING | PORTFOLIO SPOTLIGHT | REAL ESTATE | RETIREMENT | TAX PLANNING
Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF
TICKER UTES
ASSETS $ 1.4 billion
PERFORMANCE |
1 yr. |
3 yr. |
5 yr. |
10 yr. |
|
25.53 % |
21.19 % |
16.70 % |
14.14 % |
TOP 5 HOLDINGS
CONTACT INFO
Talen Energy Corp.; Constellation Energy; Vistra Corp.; Xcel Energy Inc.; CenterPoint Energy Inc.
1-877-485-4030 • reavesam. com
TOP INDUSTRIES( As a % of portfolio)
■ Utilities 99 %
■ Cash 1 %
Performance and standard deviation( three-year period) versus the Morningstar US Utilities TR USD Index as of 12 / 31 / 25. AUM, Top 5 holdings and portfolio stats as of 1 / 7 / 25. Sources: Virtus Investment Partners and Morningstar.
Playing Offense In A Defensive Sector
The Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF is a growth play on utilities. By Jeff Schlegel
IF YOU WERE TO PLAY A WORD ASSOCIATION GAME INvolving the utilities sector, the words that come to mind would likely include“ dividend-paying,”“ defensive,”“ stability” … maybe even“ staid” or“ stodgy.”
Utilities supply essential items such as electricity, water and natural gas, as well as various environmental and infrastructure services. As investments they’ re often seen as interest rate plays: Utility stocks tend to rise when interest rates fall and vice versa( falling rates also lower their borrowing costs.)
Moreover, the lower tax rates levied on dividends make their yields more tax-efficient than comparable yields from bonds— and steady dividend growth gives utilities a hedge against inflation.
Consequently, it’ s a fairly straightforward investment story. But the people who run the Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF( UTES) believe their actively managed strategy offers a different approach to investing in the sector.
“ As sector experts we saw an opportunity to create an active fund that took advantage of a few things we think are misrepresentations,” says Rodney Rebello, one of three listed portfolio managers on the Virtus fund.“ A lot of people believe that utilities are just a generic rate play and that they’ re all the same. We felt this couldn’ t be more wrong.”
Rebello, along with co-managers Jay Rhame and John Bartlett, maintain that the U. S. is in the early stages of a power demand super cycle fueled by the revolution in artificial intelligence, the growth in electric vehicles, and the onshoring trend that could boost domestic manufacturing. But it’ s the AI component that’ s the major power behind this cycle, as the revolution in this technology has prompted a build-out of an expanding number of huge data center warehouses to employ the technology. The Virtus managers have positioned their fund accordingly during the past couple of years, investing in companies— both
40 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2026 WWW. FA-MAG. COM