Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
FNDX vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FNDX returned +23.9% to QUAL's +13.1%; 30% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $27.6bn on Aug 31, 2026 for Schwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company ETF, and $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.
Pair scorecard
QUAL costs 0.10 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.8 points.
| Measure | FNDX | QUAL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +23.9% | +13.1% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Fundamental U.S. Large Company | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.25% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, FNDX as of Aug 31, 2026 and QUAL as of Oct 28, 2026 | $27.6bn | $48.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 30% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 21.0% | 44.5% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Aug 23, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 687 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: FNDX against IWB, Aug 23, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
QUAL returned slightly more: +443.7% to +418.7%. FNDX and QUAL swung about the same: 15.9% and 16.2%. QUAL fell less at its worst: −31.4% to −35.2%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | FNDX | QUAL | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +418.7% | +443.7% | QUAL (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.3% | +13.7% | QUAL (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +298.9% | +346.0% | QUAL | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 15.9% | 16.2% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.2% | 11.2% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −35.2% | −31.4% | QUAL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 86.4% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 92.1% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.93 | 0.97 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.90 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.74 | 0.75 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.05 | 1.09 | QUAL (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.128 | 0.126 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.38 | 0.44 | QUAL | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWB | MLRG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.4% a year | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.28 | 0.59 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −2.4% to +3.2% | −1.4% to +2.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.10 | 0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 5.3% | 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, 687 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, FNDX and QUAL hold 30% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
30% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
FNDX and QUAL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
FNDX and QUAL do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. FNDX follows Fundamental U.S. Large Company and QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index.
- Holdings in common. 30% 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 FNDX returned +23.9% and QUAL +13.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 10.8 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +23.9% with distributions reinvested, against +13.1% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Index.
FNDX tracks an index of Fundamental U.S. Large Company. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.25% a year. By its holdings filed for Aug 31, 2026, 88% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 731 positions, with the top ten at 21.0%.
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. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. 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
- Which returned more over the last year, FNDX or QUAL?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FNDX returned +23.9% and QUAL +13.1%.
- Which is cheaper, FNDX or QUAL?
- QUAL is cheaper, by 0.10 percentage points a year. That is about $10 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, FNDX against QUAL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fndx-vs-qual
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). FNDX against QUAL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fndx-vs-qual
[FNDX against QUAL (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fndx-vs-qual)
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