Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
MOAT vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, MOAT returned +10.3% to QUAL's +13.1%; 14% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $11.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF, and $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.
Pair scorecard
QUAL costs 0.31 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 2.8 points; QUAL is 4.1 times larger.
| Measure | MOAT | QUAL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +10.3% | +13.1% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.7%, high on Aug 27, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.46% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 23, 2026 | $11.8bn | $48.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 14% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 26.5% | 44.5% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 691 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: MOAT against VOO, May 4, 2012 to Oct 23, 2026; QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
QUAL returned slightly more: +444.7% to +408.4%. QUAL swung slightly less: 16.2% to 17.4%. MOAT and QUAL fell about the same at their worst: −30.8% and −31.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | MOAT | QUAL | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +408.4% | +444.7% | QUAL (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.0% | +13.6% | QUAL (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +329.1% | +346.8% | QUAL (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.4% | 16.2% | QUAL (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.8% | 11.2% | QUAL (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −30.8% | −31.4% | Tie | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.2% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 100.0% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.98 | 0.97 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.81 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.68 | 0.75 | QUAL (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.00 | 1.09 | QUAL (slight) | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.130 | 0.126 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.42 | 0.43 | QUAL (slight) | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | VOO | MLRG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.06 | 0.59 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −4.0% to +3.8% | −1.4% to +2.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.05 | 0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 7.6% | 3.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 691 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, MOAT and QUAL hold 14% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
14% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
MOAT and QUAL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
MOAT and QUAL do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. MOAT follows Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index and QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index.
- Holdings in common. 14% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 MOAT returned +10.3% and QUAL +13.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 2.8 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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MOAT
MOAT tracks the Morningstar Wide Moat. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +10.3% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.46% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 92% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 54 positions, with the top ten at 26.5%. It sat 3.7% below its high of Aug 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
QUAL
QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 44.5%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, MOAT or QUAL?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, MOAT returned +10.3% and QUAL +13.1%.
- Which is cheaper, MOAT or QUAL?
- QUAL is cheaper, by 0.31 percentage points a year. That is about $31 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, MOAT against QUAL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/moat-vs-qual
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). MOAT against QUAL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/moat-vs-qual
[MOAT against QUAL (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/moat-vs-qual)
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