Data as of Sep 12, 2026. Both funds on the fields they both publish, from the same sources.
VCSH vs XLV: how they differ
VCSH and XLV hold 0% of their weight in the same names, and XLV returned more over the year.
Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund and State Street(R) Health Care Select Sector SPDR(R) ETF.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, VCSH and XLV hold 0% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.
| Only in VCSH | Only in XLV |
|---|---|
| United States Treasury Note/Bond 0.85% | Eli Lilly & Co 16.56% |
| Bank of America Corp 0.24% | Johnson & Johnson 10.67% |
| AbbVie Inc 0.21% | AbbVie Inc 7.76% |
| CVS Health Corp 0.21% | UnitedHealth Group Inc 6.59% |
| T-Mobile USA Inc 0.20% | Merck & Co Inc 5.54% |
| Boeing Co/The 0.20% | Amgen Inc 3.41% |
| Wells Fargo & Co 0.18% | Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc 3.25% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co 0.18% | Abbott Laboratories 2.76% |
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 Jun 30, 2026 and May 31, 2026.
| VCSH Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund | XLV State Street(R) Health Care Select Sector SPDR(R) ETF | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | Core index fund | Core index fund |
| Issuer | Vanguard | State Street |
| What it is | Short-Term Corporate Bond | Health care |
| Total return, 1 year | +1.6% | +20.4% |
| S&P 500 over the same days | +17.5% | +17.5% |
| Gap to the S&P 500 | −15.9 pts | +2.9 pts |
| Expense ratio | 0.03% | 0.08% |
| Holdings | 2999 | 59 |
VCSH in plain words
VCSH is a bond fund tracking the Short-Term Corporate Bond. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +1.6% 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.
XLV in plain words
XLV is an index equity fund tracking the Health care. Over the year to Sep 11, 2026 it returned +20.4% with distributions reinvested, against +17.5% for the S&P 500 and +23.0% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings filed for Jun 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 59 positions, with the top ten at 61.7%. It sat 5.9% below its high of Aug 19, 2026 on Sep 11, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, VCSH or XLV?
- In the year to Sep 12, 2026, with distributions reinvested, VCSH returned +1.6% and XLV returned +20.4%, so XLV returned more. One year is one year; the longer windows are in the table.
- Which is cheaper, VCSH or XLV?
- VCSH charges 0.03% a year and XLV charges 0.08%, so VCSH is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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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.
Cite this page. ETFIQ, VCSH against XLV, data as of Sep 12, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/VCSH-XLV Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.
A comparison is not a recommendation. Standards and sources