Which returned more over the last year, FTCS or FVD?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTCS returned +9.5% and FVD +11.5%.

Which is cheaper, FTCS or FVD?

FTCS is cheaper, by 0.09 percentage points a year. That is about $9 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do FTCS and FVD overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 100% of FTCS and 63% of FVD by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

FTCS vs FVD: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FTCS returned +9.5% to FVD's +11.5%; 10% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $7.8bn for First Trust Capital Strength ETF and $8.0bn for First Trust Value Line Dividend Index Fund.

FTCS on its own →FVD on its own →

At a glance

+9.5%

FTCS total return, 1 year

+11.5%

FVD total return, 1 year

0.53%

FTCS expense ratio

0.62%

FVD expense ratio

Pair scorecard

FTCS costs 0.09 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.0 points.

FTCS vs FVD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FTCS	FVD
Return
Measure	FTCS	FVD
Total return, 1 year	+9.5%	+11.5%
Benchmark
Measure	FTCS	FVD
What it tracks	Capital Strength Index	Value Line Dividend Index
Cost and size
Measure	FTCS	FVD
Expense ratio	0.53%	0.62%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$7.8bn	$8.0bn
Holdings
Measure	FTCS	FVD
Holdings in common	10%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	21.0%	4.7%

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

Risk and return

Jul 21, 2006 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,057 weekly returns

FTCS FVD

Return

Total return edge FTCS +596.7% +509.2%

Annualized edge FTCS (slight) +10.0% +9.3%

Price return edge FTCS +422.7% +231.7%

Risk

Volatility edge FVD 18.1% 16.1%

Max drawdown edge FVD (slight) −52.7% −50.1%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge Tie 0.53 0.53

Sortino edge Tie 0.75 0.74

Calmar edge FTCS (slight) 0.19 0.19

Reading

FTCS returned more: +596.7% to +509.2%. FVD swung less: 16.1% to 18.1%. FVD fell slightly less at its worst: −50.1% to −52.7%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: FTCS vs FVD: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FTCS	FVD	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+596.7%	+509.2%	FTCS	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+10.0%	+9.3%	FTCS (slight)	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+422.7%	+231.7%	FTCS	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.1%	16.1%	FVD	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	12.8%	11.5%	FVD (slight)	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−52.7%	−50.1%	FVD (slight)	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.53	0.53	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.75	0.74	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.19	0.19	FTCS (slight)	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,057 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

10%

By the books each fund has filed, FTCS and FVD hold 10% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

10% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first FTCS FVD

Lockheed Martin Corporation 2.25% 0.47%

Amgen Inc. 2.04% 0.46%

CSX Corporation 2.13% 0.46%

Linde Plc 2.02% 0.45%

Union Pacific Corporation 2.06% 0.45%

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. 2.02% 0.44%

Cincinnati Financial Corporation 2.11% 0.44%

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. 2.01% 0.44%

The Procter & Gamble Company 1.98% 0.44%

Aflac Incorporated 2.02% 0.43%

CME Group Inc. 1.99% 0.43%

Colgate-Palmolive Company 1.95% 0.43%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in FTCS

3M Company 2.06%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated 2.06%

Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2.03%

Northern Trust Corporation 2.03%

Veralto Corporation 2.03%

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. 2.01%

Apple Inc. 2.00%

Raymond James Financial, Inc. 2.00%

Only in FVD

Accenture plc 0.51%

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. 0.48%

Black Hills Corporation 0.46%

ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. 0.46%

Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. 0.46%

NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. 0.46%

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation 0.46%

Waste Management, Inc. 0.46%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

FTCS First Trust Capital Strength ETF FVD First Trust Value Line Dividend Index 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 +9.5% +11.5%

Expense ratio 0.53% 0.62%

Already in the S&P 500 99.9% 62.7%

Holdings 50 239

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $7.8bn $8.0bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-C87117AC6C

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

What each follows. FTCS follows Capital Strength Index and FVD follows Value Line Dividend Index.
Holdings in common. 10% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 FTCS returned +9.5% and FVD +11.5% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.0 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

FTCS

FTCS tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +9.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.53% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 50 positions, with the top ten at 21.0%.

FVD

FVD tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +11.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.62% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 63% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 239 positions, with the top ten at 4.7%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FTCS or FVD?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FTCS returned +9.5% and FVD +11.5%.
Which is cheaper, FTCS or FVD?: FTCS is cheaper, by 0.09 percentage points a year. That is about $9 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FTCS and FVD overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 100% of FTCS and 63% of FVD by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FTCS vs RSPA FTCS vs IVOV FTCS vs PEY FTCS vs VFMF FVD vs NOBL FVD vs IWS FVD vs RSPA FVD vs IVOV

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

FTCS and FVD filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

FTCS and FVD prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

First Trust page for FTCS ↗

First Trust page for FVD ↗

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, FTCS against FVD, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ftcs-vs-fvd

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