Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
IYM vs VAW: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IYM returned +25.8% to VAW's +14.0%; 63% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $1.3bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF, and $3.1bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Materials ETF.
Pair scorecard
VAW costs 0.28 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 11.8 points; VAW is 2.4 times larger.
| Measure | IYM | VAW |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +25.8% | +14.0% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 7.0%, high on Aug 25, 2026 | 5.8%, high on Feb 27, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Russell 1000 Basic Materials RIC 22 | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Materials 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.37% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $1.3bn | $3.1bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 63% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 68.6% | 57.9% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Feb 6, 2004 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,185 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: IYM against IWB, Jun 30, 2000 to Oct 23, 2026; VAW against FMAT, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
VAW returned more: +589.0% to +504.0%. VAW swung slightly less: 22.8% to 24.3%. VAW fell slightly less at its worst: −61.8% to −66.1%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | IYM | VAW | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +504.0% | +589.0% | VAW | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +8.2% | +8.8% | VAW (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +304.9% | +350.3% | VAW | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 24.3% | 22.8% | VAW (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 17.1% | 15.9% | VAW (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −66.1% | −61.8% | VAW (slight) | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 111.5% | 100.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 105.5% | 100.1% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.13 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.67 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.37 | 0.41 | VAW (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.53 | 0.58 | VAW (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.081 | 0.083 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.12 | 0.14 | VAW | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | IWB | FMAT | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.3% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.11 | 0.14 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −5.1% to +5.7% | −0.4% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.09 | 0.03 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 14.3% | 0.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,185 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, IYM and VAW hold 63% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
63% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
IYM and VAW on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
IYM and VAW are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. IYM follows Russell 1000 Basic Materials RIC 22 and VAW follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Materials 25/50.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IYM returned +25.8% and VAW +14.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 11.8 points.
- Cost. IYM charges 0.37% of assets a year and VAW 0.09%, a gap of 0.28 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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IYM
IYM tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +25.8% with distributions reinvested, against +13.1% for its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.37% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 73% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 41 positions, with the top ten at 68.6%. It sat 7.0% below its high of Aug 25, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
VAW
VAW tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.0% with distributions reinvested, against +13.9% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Materials 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 75% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 112 positions, with the top ten at 57.9%. It sat 5.8% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, IYM or VAW?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IYM returned +25.8% and VAW +14.0%.
- Which is cheaper, IYM or VAW?
- VAW is cheaper, by 0.28 percentage points a year. That is about $28 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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.
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ETFIQ, IYM against VAW, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iym-vs-vaw
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). IYM against VAW. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iym-vs-vaw
[IYM against VAW (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iym-vs-vaw)
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