Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
PFF vs VPU: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, PFF returned −4.2% to VPU's −3.3%; 5% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $11.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF, and $7.7bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Utilities ETF.
Pair scorecard
VPU costs 0.36 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.9 points; PFF is 1.6 times larger.
| Measure | PFF | VPU |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | −4.2% | −3.3% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 7.1%, high on May 8, 2026 | 8.9%, high on Feb 27, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | ICE Exchange-Listed Preferred & Hybrid Securities Index | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.45% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $12.3bn | $7.7bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 5% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 22.7% | 52.3% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Apr 5, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,020 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: PFF against MLRG, Apr 5, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026; VPU against FUTY, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
VPU returned more: +314.8% to +94.0%. VPU swung less: 18.3% to 20.9%. VPU fell less at its worst: −44.9% to −65.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | PFF | VPU | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +94.0% | +314.8% | VPU | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +3.4% | +7.5% | VPU | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −42.8% | +116.6% | VPU | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 20.9% | 18.3% | VPU | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 14.0% | 13.1% | VPU (slight) | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −65.4% | −44.9% | VPU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 37.7% | 100.2% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 63.8% | 100.1% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.70 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.34 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.19 | 0.40 | VPU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.28 | 0.56 | VPU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.056 | 0.087 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.05 | 0.17 | VPU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | FUTY | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −3.5% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.90 | −0.21 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −11.0% to +4.0% | −0.4% to +0.3% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.37 | 0.00 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 17.7% | 0.6% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,020 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, PFF and VPU hold 5% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
5% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
PFF and VPU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
PFF and VPU do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. PFF follows ICE Exchange-Listed Preferred & Hybrid Securities Index and VPU follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50.
- Holdings in common. 5% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- Number of holdings. PFF holds 453 positions and VPU holds 70.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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PFF
PFF tracks an index of Preferred and Income Securities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −4.2% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.45% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 453 positions, with the top ten at 22.7%. It sat 7.1% below its high of May 8, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
VPU
VPU tracks an index of Utilities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.3% with distributions reinvested, against −3.3% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Utilities 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 90% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 70 positions, with the top ten at 52.3%. It sat 8.9% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, PFF or VPU?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, PFF returned −4.2% and VPU −3.3%.
- Which is cheaper, PFF or VPU?
- VPU is cheaper, by 0.36 percentage points a year. That is about $36 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, PFF against VPU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pff-vs-vpu
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