Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or VO?

In the year to Sep 12, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +16.0% and VO returned +12.0%, so QUAL returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.

Which is cheaper, QUAL or VO?

QUAL charges 0.15% a year and VO charges 0.03%, so VO is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do QUAL and VO overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 99% of QUAL and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds. Between the two funds, 13% of their books are the same securities at the same weight.

Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.

ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

QUAL vs VO: how they differ

QUAL and VO hold 13% of their weight in the same names, and QUAL returned more over the year.

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF and Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund.

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and VO hold 13% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.

Positions QUAL and VO both hold, largest shared weight first
Holding	QUAL	VO
SLB N.V.	1.56%	0.67%
MONOLITHIC POWER SYSTEMS, INC.	0.70%	0.63%
COMFORT SYSTEMS USA, INC.	0.54%	0.68%
W.W. GRAINGER, INC.	0.49%	0.59%
MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS, INC.	0.48%	0.67%
FORTINET, INC.	0.76%	0.46%
DEVON ENERGY CORPORATION	0.51%	0.46%
FASTENAL COMPANY	0.44%	0.54%
NEWMONT CORPORATION	0.42%	0.48%
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL, INC.	1.02%	0.42%
D.R. HORTON, INC.	0.76%	0.40%
Garmin Ltd.	0.88%	0.38%

Largest positions each one holds and the other does not
Only in QUAL	Only in VO
NVIDIA CORPORATION 6.52%	Vertiv Holdings Co 1.23%
APPLE INC. 6.28%	Western Digital Corp 1.07%
MICROSOFT CORPORATION 5.05%	Seagate Technology Holdings PLC 1.05%
META PLATFORMS, INC. 3.50%	Quanta Services Inc 1.05%
LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION 3.23%	Howmet Aerospace Inc 1.04%
THE TJX COMPANIES, INC. 3.19%	Cummins Inc 0.95%
VISA INC. 3.09%	Datadog Inc 0.84%
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY 2.92%	Bloom Energy Corp 0.79%

Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Apr 30, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026.

QUAL and VO on the fields both publish, as of Sep 12, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
	QUAL iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF	VO Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Fund
Where it sits	Core index fund	Core index fund
Issuer	iShares	Vanguard
What it is	MSCI USA Quality Factor	Mid-Cap
Total return, 1 year	+16.0%	+12.0%
S&P 500 over the same days	+17.5%	+17.5%
Gap to the S&P 500	−1.5 pts	−5.5 pts
Expense ratio	0.15%	0.03%
Already in the S&P 500	98.9%	91.4%
Holdings	121	282

QUAL in plain words

QUAL is an index equity fund tracking the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +16.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings filed for Apr 30, 2026, 99% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 121 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Aug 13, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.

VO in plain words

VO is an index equity fund tracking the Mid-Cap. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +12.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 91% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 282 positions, with the top ten at 9.6%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or VO?: In the year to Sep 12, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +16.0% and VO returned +12.0%, so QUAL returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
Which is cheaper, QUAL or VO?: QUAL charges 0.15% a year and VO charges 0.03%, so VO is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do QUAL and VO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 99% of QUAL and 91% of VO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds. Between the two funds, 13% of their books are the same securities at the same weight.

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Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

QUAL against VO, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 12, 2026. Every figure is arithmetic on a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, QUAL against VO, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/QUAL-VO Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources