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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FXH returned +21.5% and PPH +27.4%.

Which is cheaper, FXH or PPH?

PPH is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

FXH vs PPH: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, FXH returned +21.5% to PPH's +27.4%; 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 $1.0bn for VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF.

FXH on its own →PPH on its own →

At a glance

+21.5%

FXH total return, 1 year

+27.4%

PPH total return, 1 year

0.61%

FXH expense ratio

0.36%

PPH expense ratio

Pair scorecard

PPH costs 0.25 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.9 points; FXH is 1.1 times larger.

FXH vs PPH: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FXH	PPH
Return
Measure	FXH	PPH
Total return, 1 year	+21.5%	+27.4%
Benchmark
Measure	FXH	PPH
What it tracks	StrataQuant Health Care Index	MVIS US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index
Cost and size
Measure	FXH	PPH
Expense ratio	0.61%	0.36%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$1.1bn	$1.0bn
Holdings
Measure	FXH	PPH
Holdings in common	13%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.7%	71.6%

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 PPH

Return

Total return edge FXH +601.0% +362.1%

Annualized edge FXH +10.5% +8.2%

Price return edge FXH +581.6% +168.2%

Risk

Volatility edge PPH (slight) 18.5% 17.3%

Max drawdown edge PPH −41.9% −37.4%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge FXH 0.55 0.45

Sortino edge FXH 0.77 0.64

Calmar edge FXH 0.25 0.22

Reading

FXH returned more: +601.0% to +362.1%. PPH swung slightly less: 17.3% to 18.5%. PPH fell less at its worst: −37.4% to −41.9%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: FXH vs PPH: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	FXH	PPH	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+601.0%	+362.1%	FXH	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+10.5%	+8.2%	FXH	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+581.6%	+168.2%	FXH	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	18.5%	17.3%	PPH (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	13.2%	12.3%	PPH (slight)	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−41.9%	−37.4%	PPH	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.55	0.45	FXH	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.77	0.64	FXH	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.25	0.22	FXH	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 PPH 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 PPH

Zoetis Inc. 2.06% 2.64%

Eli Lilly and Company 2.04% 21.88%

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company 1.82% 4.58%

AbbVie Inc. 1.41% 3.79%

Viatris Inc. 1.36% 1.51%

Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc 1.64% 1.12%

Pfizer Inc. 0.96% 5.14%

Corcept Therapeutics Inc. 1.75% 0.56%

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. 0.71% 0.54%

Johnson & Johnson 0.44% 3.34%

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated 0.43% 0.48%

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 PPH

Merck & Co Inc 12.40%

Novo Nordisk A/S 5.45%

Mckesson Corp 4.68%

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd 4.63%

Gsk Plc 4.52%

Cencora Inc 4.34%

Haleon Plc 3.94%

Novartis Ag 3.79%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

FXH First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund PPH VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer First Trust VanEck

What it is Tracks an index Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +21.5% +27.4%

Expense ratio 0.61% 0.36%

Already in the S&P 500 59.2% 58.7%

Holdings 72 25

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $1.1bn $1.0bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-5F72702EFC

FXH and PPH 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 PPH follows MVIS US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 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 PPH +27.4% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.9 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%.

PPH

PPH tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +27.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.36% 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 25 positions, with the top ten at 71.6%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, FXH or PPH?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, FXH returned +21.5% and PPH +27.4%.
Which is cheaper, FXH or PPH?: PPH is cheaper, by 0.25 percentage points a year. That is about $25 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do FXH and PPH overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 59% of FXH and 59% of PPH by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

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

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

FXH filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

FXH prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

First Trust page for FXH ↗

PPH filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

PPH prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

VanEck website ↗

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 PPH, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/fxh-vs-pph

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