Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
AVUS vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, AVUS returned +18.0% to QUAL's +13.1%; 42% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $14.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for Avantis U.S. Equity ETF, and $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.
Pair scorecard
Both cost 0.15% a year; their one-year returns differ by 4.9 points; QUAL is 3.3 times larger.
Points (pts) are percentage points.
| Measure | AVUS | QUAL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +18.0% | +13.1% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026 | $14.7bn | $48.3bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 42% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 30.0% | 44.5% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Oct 4, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026 · 368 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: AVUS against IWV, Oct 4, 2019 to Oct 23, 2026; QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
AVUS returned slightly more: +183.7% to +165.6%. QUAL swung slightly less: 18.8% to 19.5%. QUAL fell less at its worst: −31.4% to −35.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | AVUS | QUAL | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +183.7% | +165.6% | AVUS (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +15.9% | +14.8% | AVUS (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +158.5% | +142.7% | AVUS (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 19.5% | 18.8% | QUAL (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 13.6% | 13.0% | QUAL (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.1% | −31.4% | QUAL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.1% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.3% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.01 | 0.97 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.97 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.71 | 0.68 | AVUS (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.02 | 0.98 | AVUS (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.136 | 0.126 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.45 | 0.47 | QUAL (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWV | MLRG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.5% a year | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.37 | 0.59 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.1% to +3.0% | −1.4% to +2.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.18 | 0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.4% | 3.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 368 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, AVUS and QUAL hold 42% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
42% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
AVUS and QUAL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
AVUS and QUAL are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. AVUS follows No index, actively managed and QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index.
- Holdings in common. 42% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 AVUS returned +18.0% and QUAL +13.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.9 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +18.0% with distributions reinvested, against +13.3% for its benchmark, the Russell 3000.
AVUS is actively managed and tracks no index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 84% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 1,943 positions, with the top ten at 30.0%.
QUAL
QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 44.5%.
Questions people ask
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.
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ETFIQ, AVUS against QUAL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avus-vs-qual
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). AVUS against QUAL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/avus-vs-qual
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