Virtus Duff & Phelps Clean Energy ETF

Virtus Duff & Phelps Clean Energy ETF (VCLN) is an actively managed fund of clean energy stocks from the U.S., Europe and China. Duff & Phelps, the firm Virtus hires to run it, picks the stocks instead of tracking an index. Its one- and three-year returns to Oct 27, 2026, beat eight similar funds. But it charges 0.59% a year, above the 0.53% peer average, and held only $5.5 million as of July 31, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, VCLN returned +1.8%, 1st of 9 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was -0.3%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2023 (-17.6%); its best was 2025 (+55.7%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 45.7% (Nov 1, 2021 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Jan 16, 2026.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 42 securities; the ten largest made up 49.19% of assets.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $0.00 (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +12.04%, -11.52%, -12.79%.

Virtus Duff & Phelps Clean Energy ETF is actively managed and does not track an index. Its sub-adviser, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co., picks the stocks. The goal is capital appreciation, meaning growth in share value. Normally, at least 80% of net assets sit in clean energy companies.

Duff & Phelps screens utilities, industrials, technology and energy stocks worldwide, including emerging markets (less developed economies). A stock must be listed on an exchange. Its float-adjusted market value, which counts only shares available to trade, must be above $500 million. The company must also get at least 50% of its value from one of three areas. The first is producing clean power, such as solar, wind, hydropower or battery storage. The second is supplying clean energy equipment and technology. The third is transmitting and distributing clean energy. The manager judges this from revenue, profits, assets and capital spending.

No stock may be more than 10% of the portfolio when it is bought. Beyond that, the prospectus describes no weighting formula or rebalancing schedule, so position sizes and trades are the manager's call. The prospectus reports 69% portfolio turnover, a sign of frequent trading. The fund is concentrated in the clean energy industry. It is also non-diversified, so it can hold bigger stakes in single companies than a diversified fund. As of July 31, 2026, it held 42 positions, with 49% in the top 10. First Solar led at about 8%, and the fund held no derivatives.

• VCLN charges 0.59% a year, versus an average of 0.53% for the similar funds below (6th of 9, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.66% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• The fee includes a 0.07% waiver from the adviser, which may end.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $60 in the first year and $816 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

VCLN is a concentrated, actively managed bet on a single industry that once fell 45.7%, so it fits as a small add-on rather than the base of a portfolio.

VCLN could add a concentrated clean energy stake, but its returns swing hard both ways. It gained 55.7% in 2025 and lost 17.4% in 2023, its worst year. It launched in August 2021, so it has no record from the 2008 or 2020 crashes. In the 2022 bear market it fell 18.9%. A 23.7% slide from August to October 2022 took about 36 months to recover. Its deepest drop, 45.7%, ran from November 2021 to April 2025. It made that loss back about nine months later, in January 2026. A retiree forced to cash out in a slump could have locked in large losses.

Income is modest: the yield was 2.12% over the 12 months to Oct 27, 2026, paid twice a year. Costs are 0.59% a year, or $60 on $10,000 in the first year under the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict future ones, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.