Which returned more over the last year, FEX or VFMF?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FEX returned +17.6% and VFMF +29.9%.

Which is cheaper, FEX or VFMF?

VFMF is cheaper, by 0.39 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $39. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do FEX and VFMF overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 86% of FEX and 47% of VFMF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FEX vs VFMF: how they differ

FEX and VFMF hold 26% of their weight in the same names, and VFMF returned +29.9% over the year. First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund and Vanguard U.S. Multifactor ETF.

VFMF costs 0.39 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.3 points; FEX is 1.4 times larger.

	FEX	VFMF
Expense ratio	0.57%	0.18%
Net assets, FEX as of Oct 9, 2026 and VFMF as of Sep 30, 2026	$1.6bn	$1.1bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.6%	+29.9%
Holdings in common	26%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	5.0%	8.9%
Below its high	4.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

+17.6%

FEX total return, 1 year

+29.9%

VFMF total return, 1 year

0.57%

FEX expense ratio

0.18%

VFMF expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FEX and VFMF hold 26% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated May 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.

50%

half

26% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FEX VFMF

Dell Technologies Inc. (Class C) 0.47% 0.71%

ConocoPhillips 0.46% 0.86%

EOG Resources, Inc. 0.46% 0.84%

The Allstate Corporation 0.45% 0.67%

The Travelers Companies, Inc. 0.45% 0.83%

Newmont Corporation 0.44% 0.89%

Micron Technology, Inc. 0.42% 1.25%

Ross Stores, Inc. 0.41% 0.46%

Valero Energy Corporation 0.39% 0.59%

Verizon Communications Inc. 0.39% 0.62%

General Motors Company 0.37% 0.56%

Johnson Controls International Plc 0.37% 0.39%

Only in FEX

PTC Inc. 0.60%

Everpure, Inc. (Class A) 0.51%

Okta, Inc. 0.48%

Constellation Brands, Inc. (Class A) 0.47%

Fortinet, Inc. 0.47%

Snowflake Inc. (Class A) 0.47%

Datadog, Inc. (Class A) 0.46%

PG&E Corporation 0.46%

Only in VFMF

Altria Group Inc 0.83%

McKesson Corp 0.64%

Exxon Mobil Corp 0.59%

Walmart Inc 0.56%

Cummins Inc 0.51%

Cencora Inc 0.46%

Alphabet Inc 0.39%

Weatherford International PLC 0.35%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FEX

First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund

VFMF

Vanguard U.S. Multifactor ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust Vanguard

What it is Tracks an index Actively managed

Total return, 1 year +17.6% +29.9%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +0.4 pts +12.7 pts

Expense ratio 0.57% 0.18%

Already in the S&P 500 85.6% 46.9%

Holdings 375 613

Net assets, FEX as of Oct 9, 2026 and VFMF as of Sep 30, 2026 $1.6bn $1.1bn

FEX and VFMF on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

FEX in plain words

FEX tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.6% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.57% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 375 positions, with the top ten at 5.0%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

VFMF in plain words

VFMF is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +29.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.18% a year. By its holdings filed for May 31, 2026, 47% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 613 positions, with the top ten at 8.9%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FEX or VFMF?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FEX returned +17.6% and VFMF +29.9%.
Which is cheaper, FEX or VFMF?: VFMF is cheaper, by 0.39 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $39. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FEX and VFMF overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 86% of FEX and 47% of VFMF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FEX vs PEY FEX vs IMCV FEX vs FXO FEX vs IVOV FTXR vs VFMF RPV vs VFMF REGL vs VFMF PKW vs VFMF

FEX on its own →VFMF on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

FEX filings on SEC EDGAR ↗FEX prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗First Trust page for FEX ↗VFMF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗VFMF prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Vanguard page for VFMF ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed.

Cite this page

ETFIQ, FEX against VFMF, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fex-vs-vfmf

Open data

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