Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
CGDV vs PFF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, CGDV returned +15.8% to PFF's −4.2%; 7% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $39.1bn for Capital Group Dividend Value ETF and $11.8bn for iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF.
Pair scorecard
CGDV costs 0.12 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 20.0 points; CGDV is 3.3 times larger.
| Measure | CGDV | PFF |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +15.8% | −4.2% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.6%, high on Aug 13, 2026 | 7.1%, high on May 8, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | No index, actively managed | ICE Exchange-Listed Preferred & Hybrid Securities Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.33% | 0.45% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $39.1bn | $11.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 7% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 42.0% | 22.7% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Mar 4, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 242 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: CGDV against IWD, Mar 4, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026; PFF against MLRG, Apr 5, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026.
CGDV returned more: +107.2% to +6.2%. PFF swung less: 11.3% to 14.8%. PFF fell less at its worst: −14.9% to −21.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | CGDV | PFF | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +107.2% | +6.2% | CGDV | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +16.9% | +1.3% | CGDV | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +93.0% | −19.7% | CGDV | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 14.8% | 11.3% | PFF | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.8% | 7.9% | PFF | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −21.1% | −14.9% | PFF | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 93.8% | 37.7% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 88.1% | 63.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.93 | 0.70 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.86 | 0.34 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.85 | −0.20 | CGDV | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.28 | −0.29 | CGDV | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.134 | 0.056 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.80 | 0.09 | CGDV | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWD | MLRG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +4.4% a year | −3.5% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 1.70 | −0.90 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.7% to +9.4% | −11.0% to +4.0% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.68 | −0.37 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.6% | 17.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 242 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, CGDV and PFF hold 7% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
7% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
CGDV and PFF on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
CGDV and PFF do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. CGDV follows No index, actively managed and PFF follows ICE Exchange-Listed Preferred & Hybrid Securities Index.
- Holdings in common. 7% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 CGDV returned +15.8% and PFF −4.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 20.0 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +15.8% with distributions reinvested, against +27.5% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Value Index.
CGDV is actively managed and tracks no index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.33% a year. By its holdings filed for Aug 31, 2026, 92% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 53 positions, with the top ten at 42.0%. It sat 3.6% below its high of Aug 13, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
PFF
PFF tracks an index of Preferred and Income Securities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −4.2% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.45% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 453 positions, with the top ten at 22.7%. It sat 7.1% below its high of May 8, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, CGDV or PFF?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, CGDV returned +15.8% and PFF −4.2%.
- Which is cheaper, CGDV or PFF?
- CGDV is cheaper, by 0.12 percentage points a year. That is about $12 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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, CGDV against PFF, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cgdv-vs-pff
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). CGDV against PFF. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cgdv-vs-pff
[CGDV against PFF (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cgdv-vs-pff)
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