HYLS vs PHYL: Differences, Returns & Fees

HYLS's duration was 2.9 years on Jul 31, 2026 and PHYL's 3.0 on May 29, 2026; PHYL charges 0.39% to HYLS's 0.69%. Net assets: $1.6bn on Oct 20, 2026 for First Trust Tactical High Yield ETF, and $1.5bn on Oct 19, 2026 for PGIM Active High Yield Bond ETF.

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PHYL costs 0.30 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.6 points.

HYLS vs PHYL: Differences, Returns & Fees
HYLSPHYL
Expense ratio0.69%0.39%
Net assets, as of Oct 19, 2026$1.6bn$1.5bn
Total return, 1 year+0.2%+0.8%
What it tracksNo index, actively managedNo index, actively managed
Holdings in commonnot published
+0.2%
HYLS total return, 1 year
+0.8%
PHYL total return, 1 year
0.69%
HYLS expense ratio
0.39%
PHYL expense ratio

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Client brief · page 1 of 2Report BR-5ECE6532A3

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

  1. Cost. HYLS charges 0.69% of assets a year and PHYL 0.39%, a gap of 0.30 points.
  2. What each follows (similar). Both follow No index, actively managed.
  3. One-year total return (similar). Over 1 year to Oct 20, 2026 HYLS returned +0.2% and PHYL +0.8% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 0.6 points.

Data as of Oct 20, 2026. The differences are picked by a fixed rule, in a fixed order; the PDF prints it. Page 2 has the returns, overlap, risks and sources.

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On the same fields

HYLS
First Trust Tactical High Yield ETF
PHYL
PGIM Active High Yield Bond ETF
Where it sits Bond ETF Bond ETF
What it is Actively managed Actively managed
Total return, 1 year +0.2% +0.8%
Its benchmark over the same days +1.2% (USHY) −1.9% (AGG)
Gap to its benchmark −1.0 pts vs USHY +2.7 pts vs AGG
Expense ratio 0.69% 0.39%
Holdings 332 783
Net assets, HYLS as of Oct 20, 2026 and PHYL as of Oct 19, 2026 $1.6bn $1.5bn

HYLS and PHYL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 20, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

About HYLS

HYLS is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +0.2% with distributions reinvested, against +1.2% for its benchmark, the ICE BofA US High Yield Constrained Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.69% a year.

About PHYL

PHYL is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +0.8% with distributions reinvested, against −1.9% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.39% a year.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, HYLS or PHYL?
In the year to Oct 20, 2026, with distributions reinvested, HYLS returned +0.2% and PHYL +0.8%.
Which is cheaper, HYLS or PHYL?
PHYL is cheaper, by 0.30 percentage points a year. That is about $30 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, HYLS against PHYL, data as of Oct 20, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/hyls-vs-phyl

Open data

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