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Should You Invest in the Strive U.S. Energy ETF (DRLL)?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Energy - Broad segment of the equity market, look no further than the Strive U.S. Energy ETF (DRLL - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 08/09/2022.

While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.

Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Energy - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 15, placing it in bottom 6%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by Strive Etfs. It has amassed assets over $278.89 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Energy - Broad segment of the equity market. DRLL seeks to match the performance of the BLOOMBERG US ENERGY SELECT INDEX before fees and expenses.

The Bloomberg US Energy Select Index measures the performance of US oil and gas producers.

Costs

Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.41%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.85%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Energy sector--about 99.20% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM - Free Report) accounts for about 22.47% of total assets, followed by Chevron Corp (CVX - Free Report) and Phillips 66 (PSX - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 75.97% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 7.35% so far this year and was up about 0.04% in the last one year (as of 07/14/2025). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $24.09 and $30.93.

The ETF has a beta of 0.77 and standard deviation of 23.82% for the trailing three-year period. With about 40 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

Strive U.S. Energy ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, DRLL is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Energy ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE - Free Report) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Energy 25/50 Index and the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE - Free Report) tracks Energy Select Sector Index. Vanguard Energy ETF has $7.36 billion in assets, Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF has $28.38 billion. VDE has an expense ratio of 0.09% and XLE charges 0.08%.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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