Which returned more over the last year, FXH or IHE?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FXH returned +21.5% and IHE +41.9%.

Which is cheaper, FXH or IHE?

IHE is cheaper, by 0.24 percentage points a year. That is about $24 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do FXH and IHE overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 59% of FXH and 66% of IHE by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

FXH vs IHE: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FXH returned +21.5% to IHE's +41.9%; 13% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $1.1bn for First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund and $1.6bn for iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF.

FXH on its own →IHE on its own →

At a glance

+21.5%

FXH total return, 1 year

+41.9%

IHE total return, 1 year

0.61%

FXH expense ratio

0.37%

IHE expense ratio

Pair scorecard

IHE costs 0.24 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 20.4 points; IHE is 1.5 times larger.

FXH vs IHE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FXH	IHE
Return
Measure	FXH	IHE
Total return, 1 year	+21.5%	+41.9%
Drawdown
Measure	FXH	IHE
Below its high		3.9%, high on Aug 19, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	FXH	IHE
What it tracks	StrataQuant Health Care Index	Dow Jones U.S. Select Pharmaceuticals Index
Cost and size
Measure	FXH	IHE
Expense ratio	0.61%	0.37%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$1.1bn	$1.6bn
Holdings
Measure	FXH	IHE
Holdings in common	13%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.7%	80.4%

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

Risk and return

May 18, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,014 weekly returns

FXH IHE

Return

Total return edge Tie +601.0% +603.4%

Annualized edge Tie +10.5% +10.5%

Price return edge FXH +581.6% +426.0%

Risk

Volatility edge Tie 18.5% 18.6%

Max drawdown edge IHE −41.9% −36.6%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge Tie 0.55 0.55

Sortino edge Tie 0.77 0.79

Calmar edge IHE 0.25 0.29

Reading

FXH and IHE returned about the same: +601.0% and +603.4%. FXH and IHE swung about the same: 18.5% and 18.6%. IHE fell less at its worst: −36.6% to −41.9%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: FXH vs IHE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FXH	IHE	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+601.0%	+603.4%	Tie	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+10.5%	+10.5%	Tie	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+581.6%	+426.0%	FXH	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.5%	18.6%	Tie	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.2%	13.0%	Tie	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−41.9%	−36.6%	IHE	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.55	0.55	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.77	0.79	Tie	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.25	0.29	IHE	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,014 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

13%

By the books each fund has filed, FXH and IHE hold 13% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

13% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first FXH IHE

Zoetis Inc. 2.06% 4.73%

Eli Lilly and Company 2.04% 25.28%

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company 1.82% 4.24%

Corcept Therapeutics Inc. 1.75% 1.81%

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc 1.64% 2.91%

Viatris Inc. 1.36% 4.67%

Pfizer Inc. 0.96% 4.76%

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. 0.71% 1.37%

Johnson & Johnson 0.44% 22.31%

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated 0.43% 2.46%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in FXH

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. 2.68%

Centene Corporation 2.55%

Caris Life Sciences, Inc. 2.53%

The Cigna Group 2.53%

Globus Medical, Inc. (Class A) 2.49%

Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. 2.49%

Medpace Holdings, Inc. 2.48%

Universal Health Services, Inc. (Class B) 2.34%

Only in IHE

ROYALTY PHARMA PLC CLASS A 4.78%

MERCK & CO INC 4.26%

LIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS 1.35%

DEFINIUM THERAPEUTICS INC 1.08%

VERADERMICS 0.96%

INDIVIOR PHARMACEUTICALS INC 0.89%

AMNEAL PHARMACEUTICALS INC CLASS A 0.86%

ORGANON 0.78%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

FXH First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund IHE iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust iShares

What it is Tracks an index Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +21.5% +41.9%

Expense ratio 0.61% 0.37%

Already in the S&P 500 59.2% 65.5%

Holdings 72 54

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $1.1bn $1.6bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-6F111B9361

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

What each follows. FXH follows StrataQuant Health Care Index and IHE follows Dow Jones U.S. Select Pharmaceuticals Index.
Holdings in common. 13% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 FXH returned +21.5% and IHE +41.9% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 20.4 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

FXH

FXH tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +21.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.61% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 59% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 72 positions, with the top ten at 24.7%.

IHE

IHE tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +41.9% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.37% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 66% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 54 positions, with the top ten at 80.4%. It sat 3.9% below its high of Aug 19, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FXH or IHE?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FXH returned +21.5% and IHE +41.9%.
Which is cheaper, FXH or IHE?: IHE is cheaper, by 0.24 percentage points a year. That is about $24 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FXH and IHE overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 59% of FXH and 66% of IHE by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

FXH vs IHF FXH vs IYH FXH vs VHT FXH vs XLV IHE vs PPH IHE vs IHF IHE vs IXJ IHE vs IYH

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

FXH filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

FXH prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

First Trust page for FXH ↗

IHE filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

IHE prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for IHE ↗

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, FXH against IHE, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fxh-vs-ihe

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