Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
PABU vs QUAL: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, PABU returned +8.2% to QUAL's +13.1%; 40% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $2.5bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Paris-Aligned Climate Optimized MSCI USA ETF, and $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF.
Pair scorecard
PABU costs 0.05 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 4.9 points; QUAL is 19.3 times larger.
| Measure | PABU | QUAL |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +8.2% | +13.1% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Climate Paris Aligned Benchmark Extended Select Index | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.10% | 0.15% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 23, 2026 | $2.5bn | $48.2bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 40% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 49.1% | 44.5% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 29, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026 · 234 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: PABU against PBUS, Apr 29, 2022 to Oct 23, 2026; QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
QUAL returned slightly more: +90.2% to +81.9%. QUAL swung slightly less: 16.4% to 17.7%. QUAL fell less at its worst: −17.0% to −19.0%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | PABU | QUAL | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +81.9% | +90.2% | QUAL (slight) | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +14.2% | +15.4% | QUAL (slight) | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +73.3% | +80.5% | QUAL (slight) | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.7% | 16.4% | QUAL (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.6% | 10.8% | QUAL (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −19.0% | −17.0% | QUAL | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 108.8% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 107.3% | 98.8% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.07 | 0.97 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.96 | 0.95 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.60 | 0.69 | QUAL | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.91 | 1.04 | QUAL | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.099 | 0.126 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.75 | 0.90 | QUAL | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | PBUS | MLRG | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −2.2% a year | +0.6% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.42 | 0.59 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −5.4% to +0.9% | −1.4% to +2.6% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.41 | 0.06 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.5% | 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, 234 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, PABU and QUAL hold 40% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
40% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
PABU and QUAL on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
PABU and QUAL are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?
- What each follows. PABU follows MSCI USA Climate Paris Aligned Benchmark Extended Select Index and QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index.
- Holdings in common. 40% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 PABU returned +8.2% and QUAL +13.1% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 4.9 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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PABU
PABU tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +8.2% with distributions reinvested, against +13.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.10% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 93% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 88 positions, with the top ten at 49.1%.
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, PABU or QUAL?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, PABU returned +8.2% and QUAL +13.1%.
- Which is cheaper, PABU or QUAL?
- PABU is cheaper, by 0.05 percentage points a year. That is about $5 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, PABU against QUAL, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pabu-vs-qual
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). PABU against QUAL. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pabu-vs-qual
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