Which returned more over the last year, FDL or FXO?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FDL returned +26.0% and FXO +13.2%.

Which is cheaper, FDL or FXO?

FDL is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do FDL and FXO overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FDL and 41% of FXO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

FDL vs FXO: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FDL returned +26.0% to FXO's +13.2%; 7% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $8.2bn for First Trust Morningstar ETF and $1.1bn for First Trust Financials AlphaDEX Fund.

FDL on its own →FXO on its own →

At a glance

+26.0%

FDL total return, 1 year

+13.2%

FXO total return, 1 year

0.43%

FDL expense ratio

0.60%

FXO expense ratio

Pair scorecard

FDL costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.8 points; FDL is 7.5 times larger.

FDL vs FXO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FDL	FXO
Return
Measure	FDL	FXO
Total return, 1 year	+26.0%	+13.2%
Drawdown
Measure	FDL	FXO
Below its high		4.6%, high on Sep 3, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	FDL	FXO
What it tracks	Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index	StrataQuant Financials Index
Cost and size
Measure	FDL	FXO
Expense ratio	0.43%	0.60%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$8.2bn	$1.1bn
Holdings
Measure	FDL	FXO
Holdings in common	7%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	50.6%	17.5%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

May 18, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,014 weekly returns

FDL FXO

Return

Total return edge Tie +366.6% +372.5%

Annualized edge Tie +8.2% +8.3%

Price return edge FXO +111.9% +219.9%

Risk

Volatility edge FDL 18.9% 25.8%

Max drawdown edge FDL (slight) −65.7% −71.3%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge FDL 0.43 0.38

Sortino edge FDL 0.61 0.55

Calmar edge FDL (slight) 0.13 0.12

Reading

FDL and FXO returned about the same: +366.6% and +372.5%. FDL swung less: 18.9% to 25.8%. FDL fell slightly less at its worst: −65.7% to −71.3%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: FDL vs FXO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FDL	FXO	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+366.6%	+372.5%	Tie	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+8.2%	+8.3%	Tie	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+111.9%	+219.9%	FXO	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.9%	25.8%	FDL	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.3%	17.7%	FDL	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−65.7%	−71.3%	FDL (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.43	0.38	FDL	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.61	0.55	FDL	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.13	0.12	FDL (slight)	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,014 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, FDL and FXO hold 7% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

7% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first FDL FXO

Truist Financial Corporation 1.52% 1.27%

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. 0.67% 1.58%

U.S. Bancorp 1.94% 0.62%

Prudential Financial, Inc. 1.16% 0.61%

Regions Financial Corporation 0.52% 0.96%

KeyCorp 0.46% 0.64%

Ares Management Corporation (Class A) 0.63% 0.32%

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated 0.71% 0.31%

Fidelity National Financial, Inc. 0.29% 0.92%

OneMain Holdings, Inc. 0.27% 1.24%

Columbia Banking System, Inc. 0.26% 1.31%

Franklin Templeton, Inc. 0.21% 0.29%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in FDL

Chevron Corporation 9.28%

Verizon Communications Inc. 6.58%

Pfizer Inc. 6.55%

Philip Morris International Inc. 6.48%

PepsiCo, Inc. 5.00%

Altria Group, Inc. 4.82%

United Parcel Service, Inc. (Class B) 3.24%

Accenture plc 3.20%

Only in FXO

Cincinnati Financial Corporation 1.81%

The Allstate Corporation 1.80%

MGIC Investment Corporation 1.76%

White Mountains Insurance Group Ltd. 1.75%

Arch Capital Group Ltd. 1.73%

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Class B) 1.73%

The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc. 1.73%

Axis Capital Holdings Limited 1.72%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

FDL First Trust Morningstar ETF FXO First Trust Financials AlphaDEX Fund

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust First Trust

What it is Tracks an index Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +26.0% +13.2%

Expense ratio 0.43% 0.60%

Already in the S&P 500 93.3% 40.9%

Holdings 100 105

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $8.2bn $1.1bn

FDL and FXO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-123B55DACA

FDL and FXO are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?

What each follows. FDL follows Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index and FXO follows StrataQuant Financials Index.
Holdings in common. 7% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 FDL returned +26.0% and FXO +13.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 12.8 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

FDL

FDL tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +26.0% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.43% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 93% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 100 positions, with the top ten at 50.6%.

FXO

FXO tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.2% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.60% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 41% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 105 positions, with the top ten at 17.5%. It sat 4.6% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FDL or FXO?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FDL returned +26.0% and FXO +13.2%.
Which is cheaper, FDL or FXO?: FDL is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FDL and FXO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FDL and 41% of FXO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FDL vs VFMF FDL vs PEY FDL vs IVOV FDL vs RSPA FXO vs IJJ FXO vs NOBL FXO vs IWS FXO vs SDY

Where to next

FDL on its own →FXO on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →FDL dividend history →FDL holdings →FXO dividend history →FXO holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

FDL filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

FDL prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

First Trust page for FDL ↗

FXO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

FXO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

First Trust page for FXO ↗

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.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, FDL against FXO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fdl-vs-fxo

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.