Are ITA and VUG in the same category?

ITA is a thematic ETF and VUG is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.

Which returned more over the last year, ITA or VUG?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ITA returned −4.3% and VUG +6.6%.

Which is cheaper, ITA or VUG?

VUG is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ITA and VUG overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 81% of ITA and 97% of VUG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ITA vs VUG: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ITA returned −4.3% to VUG's +6.6%, and VUG charges 0.03% to ITA's 0.37%.

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Net assets: $12.0bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF, and $232.9bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF.

ITA on its own →VUG on its own →

At a glance

−4.3%

ITA total return, 1 year

+6.6%

VUG total return, 1 year

0.37%

ITA expense ratio

0.03%

VUG expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VUG costs 0.34 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 10.9 points; VUG is 19.2 times larger.

ITA vs VUG: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ITA	VUG
Return
Measure	ITA	VUG
Total return, 1 year	−4.3%	+6.6%
Drawdown
Measure	ITA	VUG
Below its all-time high	17.9%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Below its high		4.1%, high on Oct 6, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ITA	VUG
What it tracks	Defense	Morningstar US Large Cap Growth Index
Cost and size
Measure	ITA	VUG
Expense ratio	0.37%	0.03%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$12.1bn	$232.9bn
Active share vs the S&P 500	98%
Holdings
Measure	ITA	VUG
Holdings in common	2%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	76%	63.1%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, ITA and VUG hold 2% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

2% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ITA VUG

GE AEROSPACE 20.09% 0.45%

BOEING 6.81% 0.41%

HOWMET AEROSPACE 3.93% 0.26%

TRANSDIGM GROUP 4.78% 0.18%

ROCKET LAB CORP 2.51% 0.14%

AXON ENTERPRISE 2.70% 0.11%

HEICO CLASS A 1.38% 0.06%

HEICO 0.99% 0.04%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in ITA

RTX 17.06%

LOCKHEED MARTIN 5.66%

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP 5.09%

GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP 4.79%

HONEYWELL AEROSPACE INC 4.16%

L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES 3.77%

ATI 1.77%

WOODWARD 1.40%

Only in VUG

NVIDIA Corp 13.49%

Apple Inc 12.51%

Microsoft Corp 9.74%

Alphabet Inc 5.16%

Broadcom Inc 4.34%

Amazon.com Inc 4.26%

Meta Platforms Inc 4.23%

Alphabet Inc 4.09%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ITA iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF VUG Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF

Where it sits Thematic ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares Vanguard

What it is Defense Tracks an index of US growth

Total return, 1 year −4.3% +6.6%

Expense ratio 0.37% 0.03%

Already in the S&P 500 80.8% 97.3%

Holdings 51 137

Net assets, ITA as of Oct 27, 2026 and VUG as of Sep 30, 2026 $12.0bn $232.9bn

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

Alert

About each fund

ITA

By weight, 81% of ITA's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 98%. The top ten holdings are 76% of the fund across 51 positions, as published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 the fund returned −4.3% with distributions reinvested. It sits 17.9% below its all-time high of Aug 14, 2026.

VUG

VUG tracks an index of US growth. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +6.6% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 137 positions, with the top ten at 63.1%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Oct 6, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Are ITA and VUG in the same category?: ITA is a thematic ETF and VUG is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
Which returned more over the last year, ITA or VUG?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ITA returned −4.3% and VUG +6.6%.
Which is cheaper, ITA or VUG?: VUG is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ITA and VUG overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 81% of ITA and 97% of VUG by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ITA vs QQQM ITA vs SCHG ITA vs QQQ ITA vs VOO PPA vs VUG SHLD vs VUG VUG vs XAR IDEF vs VUG

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

ITA filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ITA prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ITA ↗

VUG filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VUG prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VUG ↗

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, ITA against VUG, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/ita-vs-vug

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