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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and VFMF +29.9%.

Which is cheaper, FTA or VFMF?

VFMF is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $40. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 47% of VFMF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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FTA vs VFMF: how they differ

FTA and VFMF hold 20% of their weight in the same names, and VFMF returned +29.9% over the year. First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund and Vanguard U.S. Multifactor ETF.

VFMF costs 0.40 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.1 points; FTA is 1.2 times larger.

	FTA	VFMF
Expense ratio	0.58%	0.18%
Net assets, FTA as of Oct 9, 2026 and VFMF as of Sep 30, 2026	$1.4bn	$1.1bn
Total return, 1 year	+19.8%	+29.9%
Holdings in common	20%
Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year	+23.6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.5%	8.9%
Below its high	6.0%, high on Aug 24, 2026

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

+19.8%

FTA total return, 1 year

+29.9%

VFMF total return, 1 year

0.58%

FTA expense ratio

0.18%

VFMF expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, FTA and VFMF hold 20% 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

20% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding FTA VFMF

ConocoPhillips 0.94% 0.86%

EOG Resources, Inc. 0.94% 0.84%

FedEx Corporation 0.72% 0.72%

The Travelers Companies, Inc. 0.72% 0.83%

The Allstate Corporation 0.90% 0.67%

Verizon Communications Inc. 0.79% 0.62%

Wells Fargo & Company 0.73% 0.61%

Valero Energy Corporation 0.57% 0.59%

General Motors Company 0.75% 0.56%

HCA Healthcare, Inc. 0.54% 0.68%

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company 0.48% 0.88%

Citigroup Inc. 0.51% 0.48%

Only in FTA

PTC Inc. 0.97%

Constellation Brands, Inc. (Class A) 0.95%

PG&E Corporation 0.94%

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (Class B) 0.91%

Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. 0.91%

Cincinnati Financial Corporation 0.90%

Edison International 0.90%

Markel Group Inc 0.90%

Only in VFMF

Micron Technology Inc 1.25%

Newmont Corp 0.89%

Bank of New York Mellon Corp/The 0.86%

Altria Group Inc 0.83%

Cisco Systems Inc 0.83%

Merck & Co Inc 0.81%

Alphabet Inc 0.79%

Amgen Inc 0.75%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

FTA

First Trust Large Cap Value 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 +19.8% +29.9%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +2.5 pts +12.7 pts

Expense ratio 0.58% 0.18%

Already in the S&P 500 93.0% 46.9%

Holdings 187 613

Net assets, FTA as of Oct 9, 2026 and VFMF as of Sep 30, 2026 $1.4bn $1.1bn

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

FTA in plain words

FTA tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +19.8% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.58% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 93% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 187 positions, with the top ten at 9.5%. It sat 6.0% below its high of Aug 24, 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, FTA or VFMF?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTA returned +19.8% and VFMF +29.9%.
Which is cheaper, FTA or VFMF?: VFMF is cheaper, by 0.40 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $40. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FTA and VFMF overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 93% of FTA and 47% of VFMF by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FTA vs FXO FTA vs FTXR FTA vs MDYV FTA vs VFLO IMCV vs VFMF PEY vs VFMF FXO vs VFMF FTXR vs VFMF

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

Where these figures came from

FTA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗FTA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗First Trust page for FTA ↗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, FTA against VFMF, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fta-vs-vfmf

Open data

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