Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
PABU vs SPY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, PABU returned +8.2% to SPY's +13.6%; 46% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $2.5bn for iShares Paris-Aligned Climate Optimized MSCI USA ETF and $814.8bn for SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust.
Pair scorecard
SPY costs 0.01 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.4 points; SPY is far larger, $814.8bn against $2.5bn.
| Measure | PABU | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +8.2% | +13.6% |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Climate Paris Aligned Benchmark Extended Select Index | S&P 500 Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.10% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 | $2.5bn | $814.8bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 46% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 49.1% | 38.1% |
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; SPY against VOO, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
SPY returned more: +95.9% to +81.9%. SPY swung slightly less: 16.0% to 17.7%. SPY fell less at its worst: −16.9% to −19.0%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | PABU | SPY | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +81.9% | +95.9% | SPY | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +14.2% | +16.1% | SPY | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +73.3% | +84.5% | SPY | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 17.7% | 16.0% | SPY (slight) | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.6% | 10.6% | SPY (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −19.0% | −16.9% | SPY | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 108.8% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 107.3% | 100.0% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 1.07 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.96 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.60 | 0.74 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.91 | 1.12 | SPY | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.099 | 0.133 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.75 | 0.96 | SPY | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | PBUS | VOO | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −2.2% a year | −0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −1.42 | −0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −5.4% to +0.9% | −0.3% to +0.1% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.41 | −0.15 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.5% | 0.4% | 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 SPY hold 46% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.
half
46% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
PABU and SPY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
PABU and SPY 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 SPY follows S&P 500 Index.
- Holdings in common. 46% 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 SPY +13.6% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.4 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%.
SPY
SPY tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.6% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 504 positions, with the top ten at 38.1%.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, PABU or SPY?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, PABU returned +8.2% and SPY +13.6%.
- Which is cheaper, PABU or SPY?
- SPY is cheaper, by 0.01 percentage points a year. That is about $1 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 SPY, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pabu-vs-spy
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