Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
FSTA vs VDC: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FSTA and VDC finished level, +12.7% against +12.7%, and they share 94% of their weight.
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Net assets on Sep 30, 2026: $1.4bn for Fidelity MSCI Consumer Staples Index ETF and $7.4bn for Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF.
Pair scorecard
FSTA costs 0.01 points a year less; both returned +12.7% over a year; VDC is 5.3 times larger.
| Measure | FSTA | VDC |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +12.7% | +12.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.2%, high on Oct 22, 2026 | 3.1%, high on Oct 22, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA IMI Consumer Staples 25/50 Index | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Consumer Staples 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.08% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $1.4bn | $7.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 94% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 61.6% | 66.0% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 677 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: FSTA against VDC, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; VDC against FSTA, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
FSTA and VDC returned about the same: +201.3% and +202.5%. FSTA and VDC swung about the same: 13.5% and 13.5%. FSTA and VDC fell about the same at their worst: −22.6% and −22.9%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | FSTA | VDC | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +201.3% | +202.5% | Tie | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +8.8% | +8.9% | Tie | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +117.3% | +117.1% | Tie | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 13.5% | 13.5% | Tie | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 9.7% | 9.7% | Tie | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −22.6% | −22.9% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 100.3% | 99.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.2% | 99.6% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 1.00 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.55 | 0.55 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.76 | 0.77 | Tie | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.074 | 0.075 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.39 | 0.39 | Tie | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VDC | FSTA | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | 0.0% a year | +0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.17 | 0.27 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −0.4% to +0.4% | −0.3% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.04 | 0.04 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 0.7% | 0.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 677 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, FSTA and VDC hold 94% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026.
half
94% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
FSTA and VDC on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
FSTA and VDC are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. FSTA follows MSCI USA IMI Consumer Staples 25/50 Index and VDC follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Consumer Staples 25/50.
- Size. FSTA has $1.4bn in net assets and VDC $7.4bn (net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026); VDC is 5.3 times larger.
- Holdings in common (similar). 94% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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FSTA
FSTA tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.7% with distributions reinvested, against +12.7% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA IMI Consumer Staples 25/50 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 85% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 93 positions, with the top ten at 61.6%. It sat 3.2% below its high of Oct 22, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
VDC
VDC tracks an index of Consumer Staples. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.7% with distributions reinvested, against +12.7% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Consumer Staples 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 105 positions, with the top ten at 66.0%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Oct 22, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, FSTA or VDC?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FSTA returned +12.7% and VDC +12.7%.
- Which is cheaper, FSTA or VDC?
- FSTA is cheaper, by 0.01 percentage points a year. That is about $1 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, FSTA against VDC, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fsta-vs-vdc
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). FSTA against VDC. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fsta-vs-vdc
[FSTA against VDC (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fsta-vs-vdc)
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